HOME DEPARTMENT

Cumbria Constabulary

John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on how many occasions she or Ministers of her Department have corresponded with (a) the police and crime commissioner for Cumbria and (b) the chair or chief executive of Cumbria police authority regarding the suspension of Temporary chief constable Stuart Hyde.

Damian Green: holding answer 6 September 2013
	The suspension of chief constables is a matter for PCCs as set out in the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 and Policing Protocol Order 2011.
	Home Office Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of international partners, as well as organisations and individuals in the public and private sectors, as part of the process of policy development and delivery. Details of ministerial meetings with external organisations and individuals are passed to the Cabinet Office on a quarterly basis and are subsequently published on the Cabinet Office website which is available here:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/home-office-ministers-gifts-and-hospitality-oct-2012-to-dec-2012

Domestic Violence: Barnsley

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of domestic abuse cases in Barnsley were referred by the police to the Crown Prosecution Service in (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) 2012.

Jeremy Browne: We do not collect this information centrally.

Firearms: Licensing

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many revoked shotgun and firearms licences have been returned at a later date from 2010 to 2013.

Damian Green: Once revoked and if the licence holder disputes the decision, a shotgun or firearms licence can only be restored by appeal through the Crown court. If the grounds for revocation are reconsidered by the police, the normal procedure is for the individual to apply for the grant of a new licence.
	Statistics on reversals of revocations through the Crown court are not part of the required data returns.

Firearms: Licensing

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many firearms and shotgun certificates have been refused in (a) 2013, (b) 2012, (c) 2011 and (d) 2010; and how many have been revoked.

Damian Green: The data requested were published in the recent Home Office statistical release Firearm and Shotgun Certificates in England and Wales 2012-13, available online at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/firearm-and-shotgun-certificates-in-england-and-wales-2012-to-2013
	Data for financial years 2009-10 to 2012-13 are also provided in the table. Data relating to 2013-14 are expected to be published in the autumn of 2014.
	
		
			 Number of new applications and renewal applications refused and the number of revocations for firearm and shotgun certificates in England and Wales, 2009-10 to 2012-13(1) 
			  Firearm certificates Shotgun certificates 
			  New applications refused Renewal applications refused Revocations New applications refused Renewal applications refused Revocations 
			 2009-10 105 15 302 462 45 1,076 
			 2010-11 129 34 404 533 170 1,379 
			 2011-12 119 50 349 651 191 1,301 
			 2012-13 138 54 339 594 177 1,226 
			 (1 )Source: These statistics are obtained from the National Firearms Licensing Management System.

Homicide: Reoffenders

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many convicted murderers have gone on to murder again following their release in each of the last 10 years.

Jeremy Browne: The information requested is shown in the following table.
	
		
			 Number of people convicted of murder in the last 10 years who are known to have a previous conviction for murder(1), England and Wales 
			 Year(2) Number 
			 2001-02 0 
			 2002-03 0 
			 2003-04 0 
			 2004-05 2 
			 2005-06 0 
			 2006-07 1 
			 2007-08 1 
			 2008-09(3) 3 
			 2009-10 1 
			 2010-11(4) 3 
			 2011-12 1 
		
	
	
		
			 Total (5)12 
			 (1) As at 1 November 2012; figures are subject to revision as cases are dealt with by the police and by the courts, or as further information becomes available. (2 )Relates to the year that the second offence was recorded, not the year of conviction. (3 )In one case, the first murder was committed in Germany. (4 )In one case, the first murder was committed in Spain. (5 )In addition, four suspects who had previously been convicted of ‘murder’ committed suicide. Source: Homicide Index, Home Office

Publications

Jim Sheridan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many reports produced by her Department have been redacted for (a) reasons of national security and (b) other reasons in each year since 2010.

James Brokenshire: The information is not held centrally and could not be obtained without incurring disproportionate cost.

West Midlands Police

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to the spending review 2013, what the change in the budget for West Midlands police authority has been in 2013-14; and what assessment she has made of the effect of that change on the effectiveness of policing in the West Midlands.

Damian Green: holding answer 6 September 2013
	The Chancellor of the Exchequer’s spending round announcement on 26 June concerned decisions on Government funding for the financial year 2015-16 only. It therefore had no impact on 2013-14 police budgets. Central Government funding for the West Midlands police and crime commissioner in 2013-14 was set out in the Home Office Police Grant Report 2013-14 laid on 4 February 2013 and accompanying written ministerial statement, 4 February 2013, Official Report, columns 3-6 WS.
	In 2013-14, core funding to the West Midlands police and crime commissioner from the Home Office is £473 million. This is 1.6% lower than the equivalent funding in 2012-13.
	As a result of spending round 2013 the Home Office has committed to resource savings of 6.1% in 2015-16. However, central Government revenue funding to the police has been prioritised, and will reduce by 4.9% in real terms in 2015-16.
	Provisional funding allocations for 2014-15 will be laid in Parliament later in the year as part of the annual police funding settlement process.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL

Euthanasia

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Attorney-General what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies on assisted suicide of the Court of Appeal's judgment in July 2013 on the case brought by Paul Lamb and the family of the late Tony Nicklinson.

Oliver Heald: The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is appealing this decision to the Supreme Court. The DPP will assess what, if any, implications there are for the assisted suicide policy after the Supreme Court has considered the case.

HOUSE OF COMMONS COMMISSION

Disability

Julian Huppert: To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, representing the House of Commons Commission, what plans the Commission has to ensure the provision of facilities to allow large groups of disabled people to meet in the House.

John Thurso: We make every effort to accommodate disabled visitors within the physical constraints of the buildings, particularly those of the Palace of Westminster. Arrangements for large groups of disabled people to lobby Members are made in Westminster Hall.
	The organisers of such events are asked to notify the House in advance so that we can provide the best support and advice. Since April 2013, the Serjeant at Arms has reviewed all forthcoming events weekly. Any events that have specific access requirements or are on subjects likely particularly to draw the interest of those with disabilities, are identified and plans put in place to support them.
	For Members organising events, meetings or lobbies in the House that could be attended by people with disabilities, there is a guidance leaflet entitled “Information for Members of both Houses and pass holders escorting visitors with disabilities”. The leaflet shows the accessible visitor route through the main Palace and Portcullis House, the location of accessible lavatories, parking advice and general information on accessing the Estate. The full leaflet can be found at:
	http://intranet.parliament.uk/access-buildings/access-security/disabled-access/
	All new infrastructure projects include full consideration of disabled access. In conjunction with the forthcoming independent appraisal of options for the long term restoration and renewal of the Palace of Westminster that has been requested by the House of Commons Commission and the House of Lords House Committee, a high level Equality Analysis of the design and function of the Palace is now being undertaken. This will seek to identify strategic opportunities and priorities for the longer term, including improved access for disabled people.

PRIME MINISTER

Honours

Andrew Turner: To ask the Prime Minister how many (a) peerages, (b) knighthoods and (c) damehoods have been awarded principally for services to the NHS in each of the last five years.

David Cameron: Information on peerages, knighthoods and damehoods is published in the London Gazette, copies of which are available in the Libraries of the House.

Iraq Committee of Inquiry

Roger Godsiff: To ask the Prime Minister pursuant to his answer of 28 January 2013, Official Report, column 547W, and to the letter sent by Sir John Chilcot to him on 15 July 2013, whether the Chilcot Inquiry still intends to send out letters providing details of criticisms made as part of the Maxwellisation process by the end of October; how long the individuals receiving such letters will be given to respond to criticisms made against them; at what point detail of those criticisms will be made public; what further steps the Inquiry will then need to go through before publishing its report; and when he expects the Chilcot Inquiry to publish its report on the Iraq war.

David Cameron: I refer the hon. Member to Sir John Chilcot's letter of 15 July 2013 and my reply of 19 July 2013 which can be found on the Iraq Inquiry website. Copies have been placed in the Library of the House.

Members: Security

David Winnick: To ask the Prime Minister whether public expenditure is fully taken into account in respect of the funds involved in the protection of his person while in the House.

David Cameron: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to him on 18 June 2012, Official Report, column 632W.

HEALTH

Antibiotics

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what consideration has been given to the Danish VetStat model of collection of data on antimicrobial use on farms in the development of his Department's UK five-year antimicrobial resistance strategy.

Anna Soubry: The Government is aware of systems in place in other European Union countries, whereby surveillance of antibiotic consumption is undertaken by livestock industries, in collaboration with vets. However, in the United Kingdom data are collected on the sale of veterinary antimicrobials. Furthermore, Europe is aiming to harmonise collection and reporting all these data through the European Surveillance of Veterinary Antimicrobial Consumption.
	Data collection and usage will also form part of the implementation of the UK Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy, which will be published shortly.

Antibiotics

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what consideration has been given to the Danish model of regulation of antimicrobial use in food-producing animals in the development of his Department's UK five-year antimicrobial resistance strategy.

Anna Soubry: Variations in the structure of veterinary practice and the livestock industries in the two countries mean that aspects of the Danish model may not be applicable to the United Kingdom. However, implementation of the UK Five Year Antimicrobial Strategy will involve the development of plans to improve antimicrobial use, taking account of the available evidence and any revisions to relevant European Union legislation, including the responsible use of antimicrobials in food producing animals. The strategy will be published shortly.

Atrial Fibrillation

Crispin Blunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions his Department has had with NHS England on the inclusion of new outcomes indicators for atrial fibrillation in the NHS Outcomes Framework since the publication of the Cardiovascular Disease Outcome Strategy.

Anna Soubry: As set out in the Cardiovascular Disease Outcomes Strategy, published in March 2013, atrial fibrillation is a priority for this Government and NHS England are working to support primary care to provide good management of people with or at risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), including atrial fibrillation-related stroke.
	The NHS Outcomes Framework contains several indicators relating to CVD across Domain 1, 2, 3 and 4, including collecting information on the proportion of persons aged over 18 admitted to hospital as an emergency admission with specified primary diagnoses which include atrial fibrillation (Indicator 2.3.i). There are currently no plans to include any more specific indicators on atrial fibrillation in the framework.
	However, the Clinical Commissioning Group Outcome Indicators Set for 2013-14 includes indicators on CVD, which covers atrial fibrillation.
	The NHS Outcomes Framework is designed to be a balanced, high-level set of outcome goals that measure quality across the breadth of NHS services.

Eyesight: Testing

David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make it his policy to automatically include a free eye test and ophthalmic equipment for people who already hold a valid prescription exemption certificate.

Daniel Poulter: Free national health service sight tests are available to people diagnosed with diabetes or glaucoma in response to their increased risk of developing eye disease.
	Free NHS sight tests are also available to:
	those under 16 years of age;
	students in full-time education aged under 19;
	those aged 60 or over;
	individuals considered to be at risk of glaucoma;
	people that are registered blind or partially sighted or who require a complex optical appliance; and
	individuals on low incomes including those receiving income support, income-based jobseeker's allowance and pension credit guarantee credit.
	Eligible patients also receive an NHS optical voucher, which they can use to meet (in whole or in part) the cost of these glasses or contact lenses.
	The groups eligible for optical vouchers are:
	those under 16 years of age;
	students in full time education aged between 16 and 19;
	individuals who have been prescribed complex lenses; and
	individuals on low incomes including those receiving income support, income-based jobseeker's allowance and pension credit guarantee credit.
	People with a valid prescription exemption certificate who fall within the above categories would be entitled to NHS sight tests and optical vouchers. There are currently no plans to change eligibility criteria for free NHS sight tests or for NHS optical vouchers.

Meningitis

Tony Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what the cost to the public purse was of claims settled through the NHS Litigation Authority relating to (a) meningococcal meningitis and (b) meningitis B in the last 15 years;
	(2)  how many claims were made through the NHS Litigation Authority relating to (a) meningococcal meningitis and (b) meningitis B in the last 15 years.

Daniel Poulter: 174 claims were made through the NHS Litigation Authority (NHS LA) relating to both meningococcal meningitis and meningitis B between 1 April 1998 and 31 March 2013. It has not been possible to distinguish between the two, as they are not coded separately by the NHS LA. This number has been obtained by listing claims where ‘meningitis’ is mentioned in the data. Of the 174 claims, 140 have been settled, with the remaining 34 claims still ongoing.
	The total cost to the public purse of claims settled through the NHS Litigation Authority relating to the 140 settled claims has been approximately £45.84 million to date.
	126 of the claims were settled by way of a lump sum payment of damages, totalling £15.38 million.
	14 of the more serious cases were settled by way of a periodic payments order i.e. where the patient will receive an annual payment (usually to purchase care) for the remainder of their life. The total cost paid to date for these claims are £30.46 million. The NHS LA has made provision in its accounts for a further £32.61 million for the future payments relating to these cases.
	It should be noted that many clinical claims involve more than one ‘injury’ so it may not be the case that these costs relate solely to meningitis.

Meningitis: Vaccination

Tony Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health for what reason the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has released an interim position statement to not recommend a meningococcal B vaccination programme on cost grounds in advance of the publication of the study underlying that decision.

Anna Soubry: The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), a group of independent experts that provided advice to United Kingdom health departments on immunisation, considers published and unpublished studies routinely to help ensure that as much relevant information is considered as possible when developing advice. As the JCVI is committed to releasing draft minutes within six weeks of committee meetings, its assessments of the findings of studies are often published prior to the publication of those studies in the peer-reviewed scientific literature.
	The JCVI interim position statement on the use of Bexsero® meningococcal vaccine in the UK was informed by discussions at the June 2013 JCVI meeting about a yet to be published study on the impact and cost-effectiveness of immunisation strategies using this vaccine. The draft minutes of the meeting which describes the committee’s assessment of the findings of the study was published six weeks after that JCVI meeting. The interim position statement which also describes the assessment was published at the same time.

NHS: Disability

Jim Sheridan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what benefits the NHS offers under disability leave; and which NHS trusts offer disability leave.

Daniel Poulter: The Department does not collect this information as national health service organisations are independent employers.
	Public sector employers are under a particular duty under the Public Sector Equality Duty to eliminate discrimination and promote equality. The Equality Act 2010 Employment Statutory Code of Practice identifies disability leave as an example of a reasonable adjustment that an employer should consider.
	As a matter of good practice, NHS organisations should have a policy such as a special leave policy that incorporates disability leave.

Nurses: Foreign Workers

Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many overseas nationals were registered as a nurse in the NHS in each of the last five years.

Daniel Poulter: The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) collects data on the number of registrations to the NMC register. The following table shows the number of nurses from overseas and the European economic area registered as nurses in the national health service in each of the last 10 years:
	
		
			 Number 
			  Overseas European economic area (excluding the United Kingdom) 
			 2002 12,747 802 
			 2003 13,954 1,029 
			 2004 11,306 1,192 
			 2005 8,634 1,745 
			 2006 4,830 1,484 
			 2007 2,338 1,457 
			 2008 762 1,920 
		
	
	
		
			 2009 550 1,970 
			 2010 1,143 2,715 
			 2011 1,152 3,137 
			 2012 869 3,436 
			 Total 58,285 20,887 
			 Note: For each year data relates to the period of 1 April to 31 March the following year. Source: Nursing and Midwifery Council.

Tobacco: Packaging

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what evidence-based research his Department has considered in developing its policy on standardised packaging of cigarettes; and what conclusions he has drawn from the consideration of that evidence.

Anna Soubry: The Department commissioned a systematic review of evidence on standardised packaging. It was undertaken by academics at the university of Stirling, university of Nottingham and the Institute of Education, and published alongside the consultation on standardised packaging of tobacco products in 2012.
	The Government has decided to wait before commenting on the evidence base or making a final decision on standardised packaging. This allows time to benefit from the experience of Australia, where they introduced standardised packaging in December 2012.

Vaccination

Tony Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made of the extent to which the current method of evaluation of vaccines in the UK fully captures the lifetime benefits of disease prevention such as costs borne by parents unable to work, costs to the education system for special needs education and payouts of medico-legal claims.

Anna Soubry: The current method of evaluation of vaccines in the United Kingdom follows National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) practice to ensure vaccines are considered on the same basis as other health interventions. NICE methodology is designed to maximise the total health benefit to the population from the resources available to the national health service. It does not consider non-health costs or benefits.

TRANSPORT

Airports

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the implications for his policy on airport capacity of the ruling of the Supreme Court of 1 May 2013 on ClientEarth v. The Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on the UK's breach of its obligations to comply with the Air Quality Directive.

Simon Burns: No assessment of this has been made. The Government has set up the Airports Commission to examine the question of how best to maintain the UK's international hub connectivity. The Government expects, in line with its terms of reference, that the Airports Commission will take account environmental factors including air quality when reaching its recommendation.

Driving Offences

Steve Rotheram: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many untraced driver agreement applications rejected by the Motor Insurers' Bureau have subsequently been overturned by an arbitrator at appeal either by (a) preliminary and (b) final decision.

Stephen Hammond: Information can be provided for the number of claims referred to arbitration where the decision of the Motor Insurers' Bureau (MIB) was overturned either because it rejected the claimant's application in its entirety or where the applicant and MIB cannot agree on the amount of an award. Claims often take some time to settle, therefore the figures provided are from 2010, as most of these will now be settled. In that year the MIB received 18,915 untraced claims. Of those, 270 or 1.4% have been referred to an arbitrator and of these 88 resulted in the MIB's decision being overturned. As a percentage of the total therefore 0.46% of the cases for that report year have seen the MIB's decision overturned by an arbitrator.
	The hon. Member may want to write directly to the Motor Insurers' Bureau for any additional information at:
	Motor Insurers' Bureau
	Linford Wood House
	6-12 Capital Drive
	Linford Wood
	Milton Keynes
	MK14 6XT.

Motor Vehicles

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what his policy is on the road tax payable by foreign vehicles; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Hammond: International arrangements allow foreign registered vehicles to circulate for six months without having to register or pay vehicle excise duty providing they are correctly registered and licensed in their 'home' country. Once a foreign registered vehicle has been in the UK for more than six months in any 12 month period, the keeper must register it and pay vehicle excise duty.
	The Government is introducing a heavy goods vehicle (HGV) road user levy from 1 April 2014 payable by all HGVs using the UK road network weighing 12 tonnes or more. This will include foreign registered HGVs, which will be liable for the levy immediately upon entry to the UK and when using the UK road network.

Motor Vehicles

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how the Government monitors foreign cars entering the UK.

Stephen Hammond: The Department for Transport does not monitor foreign registered vehicles as they enter or leave the UK.
	The DVLA is working in co-operation with the UK Border Force (UKBF), the police and local authorities to ensure that there are robust enforcement processes to deal with vehicle keepers who refuse to comply with UK registration and licensing rules. This work includes research into how the DVLA and the police can utilise the data that UKBF gathers on vehicles entering and leaving UK ports.

Motor Vehicles

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how the Government is able to calculate when a foreign vehicle is liable to begin paying road tax.

Stephen Hammond: A keeper of a foreign registered vehicle is liable to pay vehicle excise duty once it has been in the UK for more than six months in any 12-month period. During any investigation it is for the keeper of the vehicle to prove that the vehicle has been in the UK for less than six months.
	Vehicles that over-stay the exemption and do not register and pay vehicle excise duty can be subject to enforcement action which can include wheel-clamping, impounding and disposal.

Railways: Finance

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much from the public purse was received by (a) British Rail and (b) each other rail company in the UK in each year since 1983.

Simon Burns: Information dating back to 1983 is not readily available. However, details of the aggregate level of Government financial support to, and income from the rail industry dating back to 1985-86 is published on the Office of Rail Regulation's (ORR)website at
	http://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/
	In addition, detailed historic information on franchise payments and premiums in respect of individual train operating companies dating back to 1999-2000 is also available on the ORR's website.

Rescue Services

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport on how many occasions both the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre, Belfast, and the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre, Stornoway, were staffed at below risk-assessed levels at the same time between 1 January 2013 and 31 August 2013.

Stephen Hammond: Belfast and Stornoway Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centres (MRCC) were concurrently staffed at below risk assessed levels between 1 January 2013 and 31 August 2013 on 46 occasions out of 486 shifts.
	These situations are mitigated by 'MRCC pairing' where each MRCC is connected to at least one other MRCC which is available to provide mutual support. In respect of Belfast and Stornoway MRCCs mutual support is available through a fixed link between them and dial up links from the MRCCs at Shetland, Aberdeen, Liverpool or Holyhead.

Rescue Services: Belfast

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport on how many occasions the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre, Belfast, was staffed at below risk-assessed levels in (a) July 2013 and (b) August 2013.

Stephen Hammond: Belfast Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) was staffed at below risk assessed levels in July 2013 on 50 occasions out of 62 shifts; and in August 2013 on 41 occasions out of 62.
	These situations are mitigated by 'MRCC pairing' where each MRCC is connected to at least one other MRCC which is available to provide mutual support. In respect of Belfast MRCC mutual support is available through a fixed link from Stornoway MRCC and dial up links from the MRCCs at Shetland, Aberdeen, Liverpool or Holyhead.

Rescue Services: Liverpool

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport on how many occasions the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre, Liverpool, was staffed at below risk-assessed levels in (a) July 2013 and (b) August 2013.

Stephen Hammond: Liverpool Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) was staffed at below risk assessed levels in July 2013 on 39 occasions out of 62 shifts; and in August 2013 on 39 occasions out of 62.
	These situations are mitigated by ‘MRCC pairing’ where each MRCC is connected to at least one other MRCC which is available to provide mutual support. In respect of Liverpool MRCC mutual support is available through a fixed link from Holyhead MRCC and dial up links from the MRCCs at Swansea, Milford Haven, Belfast and Stornoway.

Rescue Services: Stornoway

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport on how many occasions the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre, Stornoway, was staffed at below risk-assessed levels in (a) July 2013 and (b) August 2013.

Stephen Hammond: Stornoway Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) was staffed at below risk assessed levels in July 2013 on 13 occasions out of 62 shifts; and in August 2013 on 12 occasions out of 62.
	These situations are mitigated by 'MRCC pairing' where each MRCC is connected to at least one other MRCC which is available to provide mutual support. In respect of Stornoway MRCC mutual support is available through a fixed link from Belfast MRCC and dial up links from the MRCCs at Shetland, Aberdeen, Liverpool or Holyhead.

Roads: Repairs and Maintenance

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the average level of per capita funding provided for road maintenance to local authorities in each English region.

Norman Baker: The Department for Transport does not allocate highways maintenance funding to local highway authorities based on population but on likely need. The formula, developed and agreed with local authorities, distributes funding on the basis of road length, bridges needing repair, and lighting stock. The Department believes that this is a fair way of allocating funding—as those authorities with larger highway networks to maintain receive a higher proportion of the available funding.
	Further details on the methodology can be found via the following weblink:
	http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20120606202955/http://assets.dft.gov.uk/publications/local-transport-capital-block-funding/maintenance-block-formula-explanatory-note.pdf

TREASURY

Bank Services

Andrea Leadsom: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effect on the seven day switching service of new anti-money laundering requirements.

Greg Clark: UK anti-money laundering requirements will not impact the delivery of the seven day Current Account Switching Service. A bank will already have conducted necessary anti-money laundering checks prior to the account being switched which will take up to seven days.
	The Payments Council has worked with industry to ensure that the delivery of this service will be simple and convenient.

Bank Services: Internet

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions has he had with the banking industry about the difficulties faced by some people in opening internet banking accounts in mobile not spot areas; and if he will make a statement.

Sajid Javid: Treasury Ministers and officials meet with, and receive representations from, a wide range of organisations and individuals in the public and private sectors as part of the usual policymaking process. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such representations.

Commission on Devolution in Wales

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he plans to respond to the Commission on Devolution in Wales.

Danny Alexander: The Government will respond to the Commission on Devolution in Wales following an assessment of the responses to its consultation on the potential impacts of devolving stamp duty land tax to Wales.

Credit: Interest Rates

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he plans to take to reduce the number of people using high interest lenders.

Sajid Javid: The Government wants to see a well-functioning consumer credit market, where consumers can access the credit products they need and can be confident that lenders behave responsibly and treat them fairly. The Government is transferring regulatory responsibility for the consumer credit market, including high cost credit, to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) from next April. The FCA will have robust powers and take a more rigorous and responsive regulatory approach in order to better protect consumers.
	The Government is also supporting the provision of alternatives to high cost credit. The Government is committed investment of up to £38 million in credit unions to increase access to affordable credit for at least 1 million more people and save consumers up to £1 billion in loan repayments by March 2015. The Government is also raising the maximum interest rate credit unions can charge per calendar month from 2% to 3%, coming into force on 1 April 2014.

Crown Lands and Estates: Northern Ireland

Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much income has been received in respect of the marine land owned by the Crown Estate around Northern Ireland in the most recent financial year; and how much funding from that income has been allocated to the Coastal Communities Fund in Northern Ireland.

Danny Alexander: The size of the Coastal Communities Fund is equal to 50% of the revenues generated by the Crown Estate's marine assets. From its marine activities in 2012-13, the Crown Estate generated £1.2 million of revenue in Northern Ireland. This formed the basis for calculating the 2014-15 Northern Ireland Coastal Communities Fund budget of £0.6 million.

Excise Duties: Fuels

Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effects of fuel duty levels on people living in rural areas.

Sajid Javid: The Chancellor of the Exchequer keeps all taxes under review and considers their effects in the round.
	Motorists on the Scottish islands and the Isles of Scilly are benefiting from a 5p per litre discount on pump prices since the Government introduced the rural fuel rebate pilot scheme last year.
	The Government is preparing to seek EU approval for an extension of the scheme to other remote parts of the UK that are likely to display similar cost characteristics to the islands.

Financial Services

Alun Cairns: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to extend the review of simplified financial products to investment vehicles.

Sajid Javid: In 2010, the Government consulted on ideas for a new suite of simple financial products, including a proposal that deposit savings and protection products should be the initial areas of focus. The majority of respondents agreed with this approach. The Government appointed Carol Sergeant to chair a Steering Group which focused on these products. Her final report was published in March 2013.
	There are no current Government plans to extend this initiative to investment vehicles. However, Government welcomes industry to apply the fundamental principles of the Simple Products initiative, such as clarity and transparency, to a broader product range.

Fuels: Northern Ireland

Ian Paisley Jnr: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps she is taking to address the increased cost of fuel in Northern Ireland.

Sajid Javid: Fuel is 13p cheaper per litre than it would have been under the plans of the previous Government. In Northern Ireland and across the rest of the UK the Government has taken extensive action to support motorists. The 1.89ppl fuel duty increase that was planned for 1 September 2013 has been cancelled. This will save a typical car driver £25, van driver £50 and haulier £750 per year.

Income Tax: Pensioners

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much revenue the Exchequer has raised through income tax from pensioners in each of the last five years.

David Gauke: Estimates for the number of taxpayers of state pension age and their income tax liabilities for the years 2009-10 to 2013-14 are shown in the following table:
	
		
			 Tax year Number of taxpayers of state pension age (million) Income tax liability (£ billion) 
			 2009-10(1) 5.69 17.1 
			 2010-11(1) 6.01 17.1 
			 2011-12(2) 6.01 18.0 
			 2012-13(2) 5.85 18.2 
			 2013-14(2) 6.03 19.6 
			 (1) These estimates are based on the Survey of Personal Incomes for the relevant year. (2) Projected estimates based upon the 2010-11 Survey of Personal Incomes using economic assumptions consistent with the OBR's March 2013 economic and fiscal outlook.

Pay

Jim Sheridan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has set a target for the increase of real wages in the UK.

Sajid Javid: The UK economy is recovering from the most damaging economic and financial crisis in generations. The flexibility of real wages in responding to this shock has helped to maintain employment and support total household incomes.
	The Government's flexible approach to employment regulation, which allows wages to be agreed between firms and individuals depending on a range of factors, such as inflation and local labour market conditions, has helped businesses to create more than 1.3 million jobs in the private sector since early 2010. The Government believes this is the right approach and would not wish to impose wage levels for business above the statutory minimum of the national minimum wage.

Tax Allowances: Dentistry

John Woodcock: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will consider making provision for tax relief for dental nurses on the cost of compulsory continuing professional development; and if he will make a statement.

David Gauke: The Government is committed to the simplification of the tax system. New tax reliefs add complexity to the tax system and have a cost to the Exchequer, which the Government has to balance against its other objectives. The Government therefore has no current plans to introduce tax relief for the cost of compulsory continuing professional development.

Taxation

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment his Department has made of and what representations he has received on the effects of retrospective legislation and section 58(4) of the Finance Act 2008 on the stability and predictability of the UK tax system.

David Gauke: Stability and predictability are important aspects of a competitive tax system. This Government has acted to increase stability and predictability by introducing the ‘Protocol on unscheduled announcements of changes in tax Law’ in the Budget 2011 document entitled ‘Tackling tax avoidance’. The protocol makes it clear that fully retrospective legislation will be “wholly exceptional” and limited to circumstances where:
	A significant amount of tax is at stake;
	There is a history of abuse of this area of the legislation;
	There has been a clear statement of policy in the area;
	A clear warning has been given that retrospective action would be taken if abuse of specific legislation continued.
	Representations received by this Government relating to section 58 and the stability and predictability of the U K tax system have come from users of the wholly artificial tax scheme to which section 58 applies and from their representatives.

Ulster Bank

Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent discussions he has had with representatives of the Royal Bank of Scotland on the future of Ulster Bank.

Sajid Javid: The Treasury is investigating the case for creating a so-called 'bad bank' of risky RBS assets. As part of this, HM Treasury is working closely with RBS to review the case for transferring assets out of RBS—including Ulster Bank assets—and into a new bad bank.
	The Chancellor, on behalf of the Government, has met representatives of RBS including its chairman and chief executive to discuss various issues relating to RBS.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Children: Maintenance

Gordon Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many Child Support Agency reassessments were carried out as a result of parents who are members of the armed forces being posted overseas in 2011-12.

Steve Webb: The information requested is not available, as it is not recorded by the Department for management information purposes.
	Where a parent is a member of the armed forces and is posted overseas, this is not in itself cause for a case to be re-assessed. There would need to be an additional change in the parent's circumstances that the Child Support Agency has been notified of, for example a change to a shared care arrangement, or a change to the level of the parent's income.

Food Banks

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what discussions his Department has had with the Trussell Trust about the growth in demand for food banks; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Hoban: We have had some correspondence with the Trussell Trust but, as food banks are not Government responsibility, it is not considered necessary to have any discussions with them on this issue.

Food Banks

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make it his policy that Jobcentre Plus records the number of referrals they make to food banks; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Hoban: Food banks are not part of Government policy and, as such, the Department for Work and Pensions does not hold or collect information on them. The Department has no plans to review the use of food banks.

Jobcentre Plus

Susan Elan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  what procedures Jobcentre Plus follows to refer ex-service personnel to veterans' charities for additional help and support;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the accuracy of the Jobcentre Plus information systems used to record the number of ex-service personnel accessing its services; and if he will make a statement;
	(3)  what methods Jobcentre Plus uses to record the number of ex-service personnel accessing its services;
	(4)  how many ex-service personnel customers Jobcentre Plus staff have served in (a) Wales, (b) Scotland and (c) each region of England since May 2010.

Mark Hoban: All ex-service personnel claiming jobseeker's allowance or employment and support allowance receive a flexible, personalised service and access to the full range of Jobcentre Plus services from day one. This starts with an interview with a personal adviser, the purpose of which is to discuss and agree a course of action that will offer best prospects of employment, taking into account individual circumstances and need. Beyond this, ongoing support is provided through additional advisory contacts, tailored to individual need.
	Throughout the above, the adviser provides information about, and access to, the range of help available through Jobcentre Plus and partner organisations, including veteran's charities. To help with this, advisers have access to a District Provision Tool, which provides information about contracted and non-contracted provision and services delivered by a wide variety of local, regional and national organisations.
	Advisers are also supported by DWP District Armed Forces Champions whose role is to ensure the support, advice and guidance offered reflects the needs of service leavers and the wider service community. The champions work in partnership with the armed forces community, support organisations/charities and local and national employers to identify employment opportunities and specialist support for service leavers.
	Data on the number of ex-service personnel using DWP services is not routinely gathered, so this information is not available.

Social Security Benefits

Alistair Darling: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people are currently in receipt of (a) universal credit and (b) any working age benefit.

Mark Hoban: The information is as follows:
	(a) I refer the right hon. Member to the reply I provided on 2 September 2013, OfficialReport, column 251W, to the hon. Member for Wansbeck (Ian Lavery). The Department is working to guidelines set by the UK Statistics Authority to ensure we are able to publish statistics that meet high quality standards at the earliest opportunity. We intend to publish Official Statistics on pathfinder areas in autumn.
	(b) We released our latest full quarterly National Statistics on benefit claimants (February 2013 data) on 14 August 2013 according to the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority. This was also our latest monthly release. Official figures can be found on the DWP statistical summaries page of the GOV.UK website:
	DWP statistical summaries—Department for Work and Pensions:
	www.gov.uk

Social Security Benefits

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions for how long claimants moved on to managed payments as a result of eight weeks' arrears will remain on that scheme before returning to direct payments; and if he will make a statement.

Steve Webb: One of the failings of the current system is that decisions to move claimants to managed payments of rent are not systematically reviewed. Under universal credit we will return claimants to direct payment of rent once we are satisfied that they are in a position to manage their affairs. We expect that managed payments will remain in place at least until the outstanding arrears have been recovered. How long managed payments remain in place beyond that will depend upon individual circumstance but we expect most claimants would not be switched back to direct payments for a further six months.

Universal Credit

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which components of the universal credit IT system are being implemented using (a) agile and (b) waterfall software development techniques.

Mark Hoban: The universal credit programme has, to date, used a mix of agile and waterfall software development where it has been appropriate to do so.

Universal Credit

Alistair Darling: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  when he expects universal credit to be paid through all Jobcentre Plus offices in the city of Edinburgh;
	(2)  when he expects universal credit to be available through all Jobcentre Plus offices in Great Britain.

Mark Hoban: I refer the right hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Wansbeck (Ian Lavery) on 2 September 2013, Official Report, column 252W.
	Universal credit will progressively roll out in a carefully managed and controlled way from October 2013, with all those who are entitled to UC claiming the new benefit by 2017.

Universal Credit

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the potential effect on youth unemployment of the introduction of housing costs contributions under universal credit.

Steve Webb: The Government expects these changes to have a positive effect on youth unemployment for two reasons. First, taking a contribution from those aged 21 to 24 who are on benefit but on whom there is an expectation of work, increases the incentive to find a job; not least because the householder now has a direct interest in the non-dependant's employment position.
	Second, unlike the current system, the contribution does not increase when the non- dependant moves into work or where their earnings rise. This removes a significant disincentive and helps to ensure that work pays.
	Any effect on the overall level of youth unemployment will be contingent on the behavioural response to these improved incentives. It is not possible to pre-determine this response.

Winter Fuel Payments: British Nationals Abroad

Roger Gale: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which French tropical overseas territories were included in his Department's average temperature calculations in respect of winter fuel payments to expatriate UK citizens living in the EU member states.

Steve Webb: From 2015-16 winter fuel payments will no longer be payable to individuals in countries where the average winter temperature is warmer than the warmest region of the UK (South-West England). The Government has worked with the Met Office to analyse comparable winter temperature data across all EEA countries. The Met Office used recognised administrative regions for each country. For France this was the 27 regions, including French Guyana, Guadeloupe, La Reunion, Martinique and Mayotte. It does not include the French overseas territories, which are not part of the EEA.

Work Capability Assessment

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  what his most recent assessment is of the quality of work capability assessments undertaken on behalf of his Department;
	(2)  how he monitors the quality of the work capability assessments carried out on behalf of his Department; and if he will make a statement;
	(3)  what performance indicators are included in the contract between his Department and Atos Healthcare for undertaking work capability assessments; and what recent assessment he has made of the performance of Atos under that contract.

Mark Hoban: The Department looks at a wide range of indicators to assure Atos Healthcare's performance on work capability assessments, including clearance times; the proportion of customers sent home unseen; complaint handling; the percentage of assessments requiring rework before a final decision can be made; and the quality of assessment reports.
	Atos Healthcare are contractually responsible for managing, monitoring and reporting on the quality of assessments that they deliver on behalf of the Department. To monitor quality, Atos has an audit programme in place for all health care professionals developed in conjunction with the Department. This consists of a national statistically significant programme of random audit supported by a rolling programme of individual audit and, where appropriate, individual targeted audit. During this audit, assessment reports are considered against quality criteria developed by the Department and cases graded “A”, “B” or “C” with a C-grade report falling below the standards expected by the Department (although this does not necessarily mean that the advice contained within the report is incorrect).
	Atos Healthcare's contract with the Department requires them to report monthly on the results of the national sample. The contractual expectations are that, on a rolling three month basis, less than 5% of reports should fail to meet the standards set by the Department. The monthly audit reports provided to the Department by Atos Healthcare routinely showed that they were meeting the contractual target. Over the past 18 months Atos consistently reported meeting this target, with the latest reported results for face-to-face assessments based on the April 2013 audit showing 5.3% C-grades.
	The quality of Atos Healthcare's audit activity is reviewed by a joint team consisting of doctors working for the Chief Medical Adviser to the DWP and senior Atos Healthcare staff. This involves randomly sampling and examining a selection of audited cases from each of Atos Healthcare's audit centres on an annual basis.
	During this ongoing quality assurance activity, the Department identified problems both in the quality of assessment reports produced by Atos and in their audit processes, which had failed to identify these problems. Looking at a sample of reports produced following a face-to-face assessment from October 2012 to March 2013, the Department identified the percentage of C-grade cases as 41%.
	This level of performance is contractually unacceptable and the Department immediately instructed Atos Healthcare to introduce a quality improvement plan. This was set out in the written ministerial statement made by Lord Freud on 22 July 2013, Official Report, House of Lords, column WS151.
	We are working closely with Atos as this plan is taken forwards. The majority of Atos's health care professionals have now been through the retraining and revalidation process and have demonstrated they are meeting the required quality standards. All other professionals are having 100% of their assessment reports audited by senior professionals until they have successfully completed this process. Any that do not meet the required standards by the end of September will have their approval to carry out assessments revoked by the Department. We are confident that these steps are ensuring that the quality of reports currently submitted to the Department meets our expectations but will be monitoring this closely over the coming months.
	The Department has also engaged PricewaterhouseCoopers to review the quality assurance processes applied by both Atos and the Department and to provide independent advice on how these may be strengthened going forwards. They are due to report to the Department by early October.
	As set out in the written ministerial statement, the Department also intends to bring in new providers to support the delivery of the work capability assessment in order to be as responsive to the needs of the claimants as possible. This work is progressing and a notice will be placed in the Official Journal of the European Union shortly.
	A full update will be provided to Parliament in the autumn.

DEFENCE

Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme

Alan Meale: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what plans his Department has for the future of the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme;
	(2)  who took the decision to reorganise the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme; and for what reasons that decision was taken;
	(3)  when his Department took the decision to reorganise the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme; whether all the Scheme's stakeholders were consulted before that decision; and what recommendations on the future of the Scheme were received from stakeholders;
	(4)  whether the Chair of the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme was consulted about a new format for that Scheme; and what advice he gave on those changes.

Andrew Murrison: I refer the hon. Member to the answers I gave on 2 September 2013, Official Report, column 49W to the right hon. Member for East Renfrewshire (Mr Murphy), and on 2 September 2013, Official Report, column 37W to my hon. Friend the Member for North Wiltshire (Mr Gray).
	The decision to convert the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme (AFPS) to a charity was agreed unanimously by all AFPS stakeholders (Mr Speaker, the Lord Speaker, myself on behalf of the Secretary of State for Defence, the commercial sponsors, and Sir Neil Thorne (as founder)) on 25 October 2012. This was informed by a review which consulted widely and considered a range of future governance options.
	This decision will ensure the Scheme's long-term sustainability and provide the transparent and accountable governance structure expected of organisations with access to parliamentarians and the Ministry of Defence who are also supported by commercial sponsors.
	As the AFPS founder, Sir Neil Thorne has been involved in the discussions on the future of the Scheme from the outset and his advice has been valued by all stakeholders.

Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme

Alan Meale: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much has been spent by (a) his Department, (b) sponsoring organisations and (c) other contributors on promoting the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme in the last 25 years; and what assessment he has made of the value for money of the scheme.

Andrew Murrison: The Ministry of Defence contributes to the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme through its programme of briefings and embedded visits for members. Detailed records of this contribution over 25 years are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost; however, it is the longstanding view of Ministers and Service Chiefs that the modest investment in personnel resources required is justified by the benefits of the scheme.
	The provision of commercial sponsorship and other contributions is a matter for the Board of Trustees.

Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme

Alan Meale: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on what date his Department decided to request that the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme be taken under the umbrella of the Industry and Parliament Trust; for what reasons that request was made; and why that decision was subsequently changed.

Andrew Murrison: Amalgamation with the Industry and Parliament Trust was one of the governance options considered by Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme stakeholders on 25 October 2012 but the stakeholders agreed that it was not a viable option.

Defence: Procurement

Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence with reference to the contribution of the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State of 16 July 2013, Official Report, column 1015, for what reasons the identity of the domain to go first when a Government-Owned Contractor-Operated Organisation is established has not yet been made public.

Philip Dunne: This information has already been made public. In the event of a decision to proceed with a GoCo for Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S), the Maritime domain will be included in the first stage along with the Common Resource Platform which includes elements of the finance, human resources and commercial functions across DE&S. This information has been promulgated through internal MOD communications, through the Invitation to Negotiate that was provided to bidding consortia and through the media.

Defence: Procurement

Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether cross-Government approvals were received prior to the invitation to negotiate specific to the proposal for a Government-Owned Contractor-Operated Organisation which was published on 24 July 2013.

Philip Dunne: Cross-Government approvals were received prior to the publication of the Invitation to Negotiate on 24 July 2013. The Ministry of Defence will continue to work with colleagues across Government throughout the remainder of the programme.

Military Exercises

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assets and how many personnel took part in Exercise Brilliant Arrow 2013; and what the cost to the public purse was of this exercise.

Andrew Murrison: The RAF has deployed approximately 70 personnel and one Sentry E-3D to Oerland Air Base in Norway for two weeks. The additional cost specific to undertaking this exercise was some £40,000.

Military Exercises

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assets and how many personnel will take part in Exercise Steadfast Jazz 2013; and what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of this exercise.

Andrew Murrison: While UK contributions to Exercise Steadfast Jazz have not been finalised, and are subject to wider planning considerations, it is likely that the UK will provide two naval vessels. As the exercise has not yet taken place, we are not yet able to confirm the additional costs of our contribution.

RAF Northolt

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the extra total revenue his Department will receive as a result of the increase in civilian commercial movements at RAF Northolt over the next three years.

Philip Dunne: The estimated extra revenue the Ministry of Defence will receive as a result of the increase in civilian commercial movements at RAF Northolt over the next three years is approximately £8 million. This figure is based on full utilization of the additional movements available and does not take account of any additional costs that RAF Northolt may incur.

RAF Northolt

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  if he will publish an impact assessment of the decision to increase the number of civilian commercial movements at RAF Northolt over the next three years; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the potential increase in pollution as a result of the increase in civilian commercial movements at RAF Northolt over the next three years; and if he will make a statement.

Philip Dunne: The impact of the decision to increase the number of civilian commercial movements at RAF Northolt was addressed in an open letter published on RAF Northolt's website on 29 April 2013. A copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House.
	As the proposed increase in the number of civilian commercial movements is within existing limits no new assessment of the potential increase in pollution was undertaken. A full environmental noise survey was conducted in 1996; ad hoc assessments have been carried out during the intervening period and a further environmental noise survey is planned later this year.

Reserve Forces

Crispin Blunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many new Army reservists were recruited in the first quarter of 2013-14; what recruitment target was set for that period; how many Army reservists are expected to be recruited in 2013-14; and how many reservists need to be recruited in each of the next five years to meet the Army's current manning targets.

Mark Francois: In order to meet the requirements set out under Army 2020 the Army's structure is changing and manning is in a period of transition with strength reflecting the planned drawdown. Immediate measures have been put in place to deliver a step change in Army reserve recruiting.
	It will take time to accurately measure the growth in reserve forces following the announcement of 3 July 2013, Official Report, column 932, but the Secretary of State for Defence, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) has said the Government remains committed to keeping the House updated through the publication of both recruitment figures and trained strength figures as the Army reserve moves forward.

Trident

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the cost to the public purse of the Trident Alternatives Review.

Danny Alexander: I have been asked to reply 
	as the Minister responsible for the Trident Alternatives Review.
	I refer the right hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Dunfermline and West Fife (Thomas Docherty), the hon. Member for North Durham (Mr Jones) and the hon. Member for Barrow and Furness (John Woodcock) on 2 September 2013, Official Report, column 6W.

USA

Rehman Chishti: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 15 July 2013, Official Report, column 506W, on USA, what information his Department holds on such casualties.

Andrew Robathan: The Ministry of Defence only holds information on deaths to UK armed forces personnel which occurred while in-service. From 1 January 2003 to 6 September 2013, there were eight confirmed cases where UK armed forces personnel have died as a result of US armed forces air strikes confirmed through the outcome of a coroner's inquest. Five occurred as a result of operations in Afghanistan and three as a result of operations in Iraq.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Bovine Tuberculosis

Ian Paisley Jnr: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans the Government has to extend badger cull trials to Northern Ireland.

Theresa Villiers: The Government has no such plans. This is a devolved matter which is the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development.

World Police and Fire Games 2013

David Nuttall: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the cost to the public purse was of hosting the World Police and Fire Games in Belfast in August 2013.

Theresa Villiers: The devolved Northern Ireland Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure took the lead in taking forward the games though a company called the 2013 World Police and Fire Games Limited which it established to deliver them. No funding was made available by my Department in respect of hosting them.

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Fire Services: Pensions

Stephen Gilbert: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will calculate by how much, under the proposed Fire Fighters' Pension Scheme: Proposed Final Agreement, a fire fighter in the (a) 1992 pension scheme, (b) 2006 scheme and (c) 2015 scheme would have their total pension reduced at an actuarially reduced rate of 5% if they retired at age 55 on 1 January (i) 2015, (ii) 2016, (iii) 2017, (iv) 2018, (v) 2019, (vi) 2020, (vii) 2021 and (viii) 2022.

Brandon Lewis: holding answer 18 July 2013
	The Government has listened carefully to firefighters’ concerns and tabled a generous pension offer, which includes enhanced arrangements for firefighters retiring from age 55. A member of the Firefighters' Pension Scheme 2015 or the New Firefighters' Pension Scheme 2006 who chose to retire at age 55 would have their pension actuarially reduced in accordance with factors issued by the scheme actuary. A member of the Firefighters' Pension Scheme 1992 taking their pension at age 55 would not have their 1992 scheme pension actuarially reduced.
	The current factors applicable for the New Firefighters' Pension Scheme 2006 are contained in New Firefighters' Pension Scheme Early Retirement Factors issued on 4 July 2011 by the Government Actuary's Department. No such factors have been issued by the Government Actuary's Department for the Firefighters' Pension Scheme 2015, although indicative factors can be found at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/firefighters-pension-scheme-reforms-pension-scheme-calculator
	A copy of this document can be found in the Library of the House.

Housing: Finance

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much of his Department's capital budget has (a) been spent on (i) housing and (ii) affordable housing in each financial year from 2010-11 to 2012-13 and (b) will be spent on such housing in each financial year from 2013-14 to 2017-18.

Brandon Lewis: holding answer 2 July 2013
	DCLG's capital spend from 2010-11 to 2012-13 is set out in the Department's annual report and accounts for these years.
	DCLG's capital budgets on housing and affordable housing from 2013-14 to 2014-15 are set out in the Department's 2013-14 Main Estimate Explanatory Memorandum.
	Spending Round 2013 set out DCLG's total capital budget for 2015-16 and announced that DCLG will invest £957 million capital spending per annum between 2015-16 and 2017-18 in affordable housing as well as £250 million in 2015-16 and £150 million in 2016-17 in a new Affordable Rent to Buy scheme.
	The current spending review's affordable housing programme is levering in a total of £19.5 billion of private and public investment in 170,000 affordable homes, assisted by the innovative affordable rent scheme which has helped increase the level of private investment and thus overall capital spending on affordable housing than would otherwise have been the case.
	Up to a further 30,000 affordable homes will be delivered by March 2017, supported by a share of the £10 billion housing guarantees and grant of £450 million.
	The £3.3 billion of funding announced in the Spending Round 2013, together with receipts from right-to-buy sales, will lever in up to £20 billion of private investment in affordable housing in addition.
	By contrast, I observe the last Prime Minister planned to cut back housing investment, remarking before the general election: “Housing is essentially a private sector activity. Let's be honest about this... I don't see a need for us to continue with such a big renovation programme” (BBC Newsnight, 30 April 2010).

Non-domestic Rates

Andy Sawford: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the outcome was of his visit to Sevenoaks Town Council on 22 June 2013 was; what assessment he has made of the calls from the National Association of Local Councils for further reform of business rates to assist town and parish councils in supporting local economic growth; and if he will make a statement.

Brandon Lewis: The Government recognises the valuable role played by parish and town councils in helping to foster vibrant local communities. While we do not propose to change the standard funding arrangements for such councils, and funding will continue to be delivered through a precept, we have introduced measures through the Localism Act which can significantly empower parish and town councils, increasing their role and capability in supporting local economic growth.
	Parish and town councils take the lead in preparing a Neighbourhood Plan, which provides them and their communities with a much greater say in local strategic planning matters. Local authorities who have adopted the Community Infrastructure Levy are required to pass 25% of levy receipts from local development to parish or town councils if a Neighbourhood Plan is in place. For areas without a Plan it will be a still highly significant 15% of levy funds.
	Parish and town councils, in consultation with their communities, can spend the levy funds on any infrastructure and associated services they want, to support the development of the area.
	Sevenoaks town council is currently in the early stages of preparing a Neighbourhood Plan and has received Government assistance to aid the process.

Non-domestic Rates: Greater London

Mary Macleod: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many businesses in (a) London, (b) Hounslow borough and (c) Brentford and Isleworth constituency have used the small business rate relief scheme to date.

Brandon Lewis: As at 31 December 2010, the latest date for which data are available, local authorities reported there were 61,100 businesses in London, benefiting from the small business rate relief scheme. Of these 1,280 were in the London borough of Hounslow.
	Data were collected on the annual national non-domestic rates (NNDR1) forecast return completed by all billing authorities in England.
	Data are collected at billing authority level; we do not collect data at constituency level. The data are collected at a fixed point in time and represent the situation at that time. We do not collect data on the total numbers that have benefited from the scheme over time.
	We estimate that approximately half a million business in England are benefiting from the small business rate relief scheme. As the Government has currently doubled the level of small business rate relief we estimate that approximately a third of a million ratepayers are currently paying no rates at all.

Public Houses

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps his Department is taking to make communities aware of the Community Right to Bid as a way of protecting local pubs from closure.

Brandon Lewis: My Department has taken a number of steps to make communities aware of the Community Right to Bid as a way of protecting pubs from closure, including:
	Promoting the Right to Bid through business partners such as the Plunkett Foundation, who work closely with communities concerning assets of community value.
	Supporting the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) in their ‘List your Local’ campaign to get 300 communities to have listed their local pub by the end of 2013.
	Hosting a seminar in July 2013 facilitated by DCLG, CAMRA, Pub is the Hub, Plunkett Foundation, Locality and Co-ops UK. Communities were invited to come along and discuss with experts how to protect their local pubs, including through the Community Right to Bid. Also present were representatives from the Ivy House pub in Nunhead, London, the first pub to be listed as an asset of community value and which has recently re-opened.
	Utilising social media including promotion of Community Right to Bid on Twitter.
	Personally promoting the Community Right to Bid wherever possible, including speaking engagements such as my speech at the Great British Beer Festival on 13 August.

Right to Buy Scheme

Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many homes were purchased under the right to buy in (a) South Shields, (b) the North East and (c) the UK in each year since 2009-10.

Mark Prisk: Figures for South Shields constituency are not available. Figures are available at a local authority level and the relevant local authority for the South Shields constituency is South Tyneside. Between 2009-10 and 2012-13 there were 165 sales of local authority owned dwellings through the Right to Buy scheme in South Tyneside. The annual figures show an increase in sales from 30 in 2011-12 to 85 in 2012-13 since the change in Right to Buy discounts in April 2012, but there is more to do to inform tenants of their new rights and help them up the ladder of home ownership. These figures do not include other schemes such as Social Homebuy. Over the same time on the same basis 13,714 dwellings were sold in England. Figures on an annual basis are available at the following link. Figures for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are not comparable.
	Following the abolition of regional government by the Coalition, DCLG no longer publishes statistics at a regional level and does not believe that regions provide a coherent or meaningful framework for assessing public policy. Instead, our published statistics relate, where relevant, to other sub-national geographies which are more aligned with public policy. However, we hold data from which the requested figures can be derived and these are available through the following link.
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/230904/LT685.xls

Wind Power: Planning Permission

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 10 July 2013, Official Report, column 288W, on wind power: planning permission, when he intends to announce his decisions on the 10 recovered appeals; and whether he intends to announce all 10 decisions simultaneously.

Mark Prisk: Every planning application/appeal should be considered on its individual merits, with due process. I will be issuing a decision on the first of these recovered appeals (Treading Field, Cambridgeshire) very shortly. A table listing the published target dates, where known, for the remaining recovered appeals has been placed in the Library of the House.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Developing Countries: Health Services

Tony Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will make it her policy that publicly led and financed health systems should be a priority in international discussions on the post-2015 development framework and that the future allocation of funds to the UK aid budget should reflect such a priority.

Lynne Featherstone: The importance of strong health systems in improving health outcomes has already been a priority in Post 2015 discussions, as highlighted in the High Level Panel report, which stresses the need for progress towards Universal Health Coverage. The future allocation of funds from the UK Aid budget will continue to be driven by the principles of poverty reduction and value for money.

Syria

David Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what plans she has in the immediate term to increase the amount of UK humanitarian aid to those affected by the civil war in Syria.

Alan Duncan: At the G20 summit the Prime Minister announced a further £52 million in emergency humanitarian funding, taking the UK's total support for Syria and the region to £400 million. We will continue to lobby key international partners to increase their funding.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Arms Trade: Exports

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what his policy is on assessing the human rights record of countries before permitting arms exports from the UK to those countries.

Alistair Burt: All export licence applications are considered by the Government on a case-by-case basis and in line with the provisions of the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) consults the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) on a number of the Criteria including Criterion 2—the respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms. In making our assessment the FCO looks at information from a wide range of sources—including our global network of Posts, international organisations, the media, and non-governmental organisations. The Government will not issue an export licence where we judge there is a clear risk that the proposed export might be used for internal repression.
	Detailed information on the assessment of export licensing applications can be found in the Government's Annual Report on Strategic Export Controls laid before the House on 12 July.

Gibraltar

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the policy of the Spanish government towards Gibraltarians.

David Lidington: I refer the hon. Member to the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague)'s written ministerial statement of 2 September 2013, Official Report, column 10WS, and the Foreign Secretary's reply of 3 September 2013 to my hon. Friend the Member for Rossendale and Darwen (Jake Berry), Official Report, column 148.
	We are aware of Spanish press reporting on wide-ranging measures that the Spanish Government may be planning to take against Gibraltar. While these reports are concerning, the British Government will respond to actions not rhetoric. We will continue to press the Spanish Government to de-escalate the situation, as well as preparing prudently for increasing that pressure if that does not happen. We remain very concerned by recent actions taken by the Government of Spain, most notably at the border with Gibraltar, and have responded robustly in partnership with the Government of Gibraltar. We have made clear to Spain that their unlawful actions are disproportionate and unacceptable. We have repeatedly expressed our desire to find a diplomatic solution acceptable to Spain while reaffirming our commitment to upholding the rights and interests of the UK and of Gibraltar. At the same time, Spain and the UK have a strong bilateral relationship from which both countries greatly benefit. We want to return to diplomatic means to find our way through the current tensions.

Iraq: Iran

Ian Paisley Jnr: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received on the massacre of 52 unarmed civilians at camp Ashraf in Iraq on 1 September 2013; what discussions he has had with his international counterparts on dealing with the ongoing terror situation against the citizens of that country; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt: When I learned of the violence at Camp Ashraf on 1 September 2013 I issued a statement strongly condemning the killings. It is an appalling attack and we have raised our very serious concerns with the Government of Iraq—including our call for a full and transparent inquiry and ensuring that those responsible are held to account.
	We regularly discuss the security situation in Iraq, and the increased level of terrorism which has claimed over 3,000 lives since April, with our international partners—including at the UN and in the EU.

Iraq: Iran

Ian Paisley Jnr: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent reports he has received on the wellbeing of hostages Vajiheh Karbalaie, Mahboobeth Lashkari, Fatemeh Sakhaie, Fatemeh Tahouri, Leila Nabahat, Sedigheh Ebrahim-pour and Mohsen Niknami who were taken prisoner on 1 September 2013 by Iraqi special forces from Camp Ashraf.

Alistair Burt: We are aware of reports about residents of Camp Ashraf not yet accounted for after the violent events of 1 September 2013, but do not have specific or recent information. We have called on the Government of Iraq to ensure the safety and security of all remaining residents.

Middle East

Philip Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the effect on the revised Israeli-Palestinian dialogue of the growing insurgency in the Sinai peninsula and increased restrictions on the Egyptian border with the Gaza Strip.

Alistair Burt: We do not assess that these events have had a significant impact on the current Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. However, the turbulence in the broader region only makes the need for progress on the Peace Process even more pressing.

Middle East

Bob Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs with reference to the Answer to Baroness Tonge of 30 July 2013, Official Report, House of Lords, column 294WA, on Palestine, what the source was of the figures given in that Answer for the number of Palestinian civilians killed by Israelis since 1 January 2012 in incidents directly related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Alistair Burt: I refer my hon. Friend to my answer of 4 September 2013, Official Report, column 389W.

Occupied Territories

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received on the number of (a) lawful and (b) unlawful refusals of Palestinian requests for building permits and master plans in the West Bank since 29 July 2013; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt: We have received no reports on the number of Palestinian requests for building permits and master plans in the West Bank that have been refused since 29 July 2013.

Occupied Territories

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many new housing units have been (a) announced and (b) approved in settlements in East Jerusalem and the Occupied Palestinian State since 29 July 2013; how many new housing units have been built in that time; how many Palestinian homes and other buildings have been demolished; how many Palestinians have been evicted; how many Palestinians had their East Jerusalem residency permit revoked; how many olive trees have been destroyed or vandalised; and how many Palestinians have been forcibly transferred out of Area C.

Alistair Burt: As details are not held in the form requested, this information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

JUSTICE

British Transport Police

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  what proportion of cases brought to court on behalf of the British Transport Police in the last three years were against people with a disability;
	(2)  what proportion of cases brought to court on behalf of the British Transport Police were successful in the last three years.

Jeremy Wright: From information held centrally it is not possible to identify cases brought by the British Transport Police from cases brought by other forces. Cases brought by the British Transport Police are generally heard in the force area where the offence was committed or where the defendant normally resides.

Community Justice Centres: Liverpool

Louise Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  what assessment he has carried out of the work undertaken by the North Liverpool Community Justice Centre;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the effect of the North Liverpool Community Justice Centre on (a) crime rates in Liverpool and (b) the work of community groups in North Liverpool.

Helen Grant: The findings of a full evaluation of the North Liverpool Community Justice Centre were published in July 2012. The report can be found at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/north-liverpool-community-justice-centre-analysis-of-re-offending-rates-and-efficiency-of-court-processes
	Its key points included:
	there was no evidence that the Centre was more effective in reducing reoffending than other courts;
	offenders were more likely to breach a court order at the centre than other courts;
	and court hearing performance varied. There was some indication that cases were dealt with more quickly and with fewer hearings per case going to trial, but a higher proportion of ‘cracked’ trials (where guilty pleas are entered on the day) which waste time and costs for all parties.
	(a) The evaluation report sets out crime rates for Merseyside between 2004-05 and 2009-10. This shows that over that period:
	crime rates in north Liverpool reduced by a greater degree than across England and Wales more generally and by a greater degree than other parts of Merseyside;
	crime rates in north Liverpool remained significantly higher than the national and Merseyside averages.
	As stated in the full evaluation report on the North Liverpool Community Justice Centre published in 2012. It is not possible to attribute levels of reduced crime rates to the work of the centre.
	(b) On its launch in 2005, one of the key objectives of the centre was to focus on community engagement and working with community groups. Its community engagement activity peaked in 2008-09 when the centre held over 200 community events involving 20,000 people. Research undertaken in 2011 found, however, that local awareness of the community work led by the centre was low. More recently, local community engagement activity has diminished as the workload of the centre has changed and widened beyond the centre's catchment area. A number of community groups were specifically invited to respond to a recent consultation on the future of the centre and have not done so.

Courts: Bishop Auckland

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what (a) financial savings have been made and (b) job reductions have taken place as a result of the closure of the (i) magistrates' court and (ii) county court in Bishop Auckland constituency.

Helen Grant: As of 30 June 2013 the closure of Bishop Auckland county and magistrates courts has secured resource savings of £177,000. The property is currently on the market for disposal.
	Both courts closed under the Court Estate Reform Programme announced to Parliament in December 2010. To date, the programme has closed 137 courts in England and Wales, resulting in total net benefits of £35.8 million (made up of £19.3 million resource benefits and £16.5 million capital benefits).
	Although staff reductions are not available on individual courts the programme has delivered full-time equivalent staff reductions of 214.19.

EDUCATION

Care System

Teresa Pearce: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if his Department will publish a strategy setting out plans for children in the care system; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Timpson: Early last year we considered whether to develop an overarching strategy for children in care. We decided that as there was a general consensus about what needed to improve, it would be better to simply get on and drive a programme of change. Since then we have set in place reforms to ensure that all children have strong and stable placements, achieve good educational outcomes and receive on-going quality support when they leave care.

Apprenticeships

Mark Menzies: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps he is taking to improve the quality of apprenticeships.

Matthew Hancock: We have already raised the quality of Apprenticeships by making them real jobs; introducing minimum durations; identifying and rooting out poor quality delivery; and insisting on more stretching qualifications in English and maths.
	Further reforms, following the Richard Review on the future of Apprenticeships, will ensure that apprenticeships will be more rigorous and more employer-led. A detailed implementation plan will be published shortly.

Pupil Progression

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what representations he has received about year 12 pupils not being allowed to progress to year 13 because of standards set by schools above a pass grade.

Matthew Hancock: The Department has received one letter concerning a student who has been asked to change their subject choices and resit year 12 because of poor AS results.

Child Care

David Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans his Department has for child care; and if he will make a statement.

Elizabeth Truss: Reliable, high quality and affordable child care is essential to children’s development, and vital to giving parents the choice to work.
	We want to increase the amount of child care available, and encourage a thriving market where high quality, affordable child care is on offer at the times working parents need it.
	We have set out our plans in “More Great Childcare” and “More Affordable Childcare”.

Holiday Child Care

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what estimate he has made of changes in the cost of holiday child care provision since 2010.

Elizabeth Truss: The Department’s child care and early years survey of parents provides national estimates of the amount families pay for holiday child care. The latest survey shows no significant change in this amount between 2010 and 2011. In 2011, the average daily cost of holiday clubs was £18.75. Over the longer-term, child care costs as a whole have increased significantly. “More Affordable Childcare” sets out Government plans to increase the amount of affordable child care.

Technical Qualifications

Gavin Williamson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education when the proposed tech levels and technical baccalaureate will be introduced; and if he will make a statement.

Matthew Hancock: Tech level qualifications will be introduced in September 2014 as a high quality alternative to A levels. They require industry backing and will equip students with specialist knowledge and skills.
	The technical baccalaureate measure will recognise students who achieve a tech level, core maths at level 3 and the extended project qualification. It will appear in performance tables from 2016.
	The DFE will publish the first list of approved tech levels in November 2013.

Schools Commissioner

Nicholas Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans he has to review the responsibilities of and lines of accountability for the role of Schools Commissioner.

Edward Timpson: The role of Schools Commissioner is the public face of academies and free schools, leading communications between the Department and the education sector. The responsibilities involve initiating brokerage arrangements between schools and sponsors, nurturing potential sponsors, influencing school-to-school support and working closely with Ministers to shape the future development of the academies and free schools programme. This is a two-year fixed term contract and the appointee will be accountable to the Director General of the Department's Infrastructure and Funding Group.
	There are currently no plans to review the responsibilities and lines of accountability until the successful candidate's term comes to an end.

Schools: Finance

Jeremy Lefroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education What steps he plans to take to achieve fairer funding of schools.

David Laws: On 26 June, the Government committed to consult on how best to introduce a national funding formula for schools in 2015.
	We are now preparing for the consultation. A national funding formula will mean that pupils with comparable characteristics attract a comparable level of funding regardless of where they go to school.

Young People: Unemployment

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many 16 to 18 year olds in Pendle were not in education, employment or training in each of the last five years.

Matthew Hancock: Local authorities collect information on the proportion of 16 to 18-year-olds who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) in each local authority area in England.
	The figures for Pendle cannot be disaggregated from those for Lancashire as a whole, which are as follows:(1)
	(1)http://www.education.gov.uk/16to19/participation/neet/a0064101/strategies-for-16-to-18-year-olds-not-in-education-employment-or-training-neet
	
		
			  Estimate numbers of 16 to 18-year-olds NEET Estimate numbers of 16 to 18-year-olds NEET as a percentage of the cohort 
			 2012 2,290 5.5 
			 2011(1) 2,610 6.2 
			 2010 2,280 6.5 
			 2009 2,551 7.1 
			 2008 2,530 6.6 
			 (1) The figures for 2011 and 2012 cannot be compared with those of previous years because from 2011 young people have been recorded by where they live. Prior to that they had been recorded by where they study.

ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Energy

Chris Heaton-Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the total cost to the consumer has been of energy and environment policies funded by levies on energy companies in each year since 2002; and what the costs have been of each such policy. [R]

Michael Fallon: The following table sets out the total estimated costs of energy and climate change policies funded by levies on energy companies since 2002. For some policies this is not available on an annual basis and costs are shown over the entire lifetime of the policy. Costs are shown for calendar years or financial years depending on the policy. Policy costs are passed on through energy bills and it remains up to the energy supplier if and how to recover these costs.
	
		
			 Estimated costs of energy and climate change policies since 2002 
			 Policy Time period considered Estimated cost to date (£ billion, real 2012 prices) 
			 Energy Efficiency Commitment (EEC) I April 2002 to March 2005 (1)0.5 
			 Energy Efficiency Commitment (EEC) II April 2005 to March 2008 1.1 
			 Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) April 2008 to March 2011 (2)3.4 
			 Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) Extension April 2011 to December 2012 2.0 
			 Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP) October 2009 to December 2012 0.3 
			 Energy Company Obligation* 2013 — 
			 Feed in Tariffs(3) (FiTs)* 2010-11 0.01 
			  2011-12 0.15 
			  2012-13 0.50 
			 Renewables Obligation(4)* (RO) 2002-03 0.38 
		
	
	
		
			  2003-04 0.56 
			  2004-05 0.64 
			  2005-06 0.73 
			  2006-07 0.88 
			  2007-08 1.04 
			  2008-09 1.18 
			  2009-10 1.23 
			  2010-11 1.42 
			  2011-12 1.53 
			  2012-13 1.99 
			 Warm Home Discount(5)* 2011-12 0.24 
			 * Active policies (1) Calculations of EEC I, EEC 11, are based on an evaluation of costs by Eoin Lees Energy, available at: http://eoinleesenergy.com/ (2) Calculations of CERT, CERT Extension and CESP are based on impact assessments published by DECC (3) Costs represent FITs Levelisation Fund, and include generation payments, deemed export payments claimed by generators, qualifying (administration) costs claimed by FIT licensees, minus the value of deemed export to licensed electricity suppliers. Figures for 2010-11 and 2011-12 are taken from the Ofgem Annual FITs Report for those years, available at: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/environmental-programmes/feed-tariff-fit-scheme/feed-tariff-reports/annual-reports Figures for 2012-13 are taken from Ofgem FITs Quarterly Update reports, available at: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/environmental-programmes/feed-tariff-fit-scheme/feed-tariff-reports/fit-update-reports These figures should be treated as provisional Final figures for 2012-13 will be published in the 2012-13 FITs Annual Report (to be published December 2013). (4) Spending under the Renewables Obligation is calculated as the overall obligation multiplied by the buy-out price. These figures can be found in Ofgem’s RO annual reports for 2002-03 to 2011-12, available at: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/environmental-programmes/renewables-obligation-ro For 2012-13, the obligation level and buy-out price can be found at: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/renewables-obligation-total-obligation-levels-2012-13 (5 )Ofgem (2012) “Warm Home Discount Scheme Annual Report—Scheme Year 1”: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/ofgem-publications/58950/whdar08oct2012.pdf (6) https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/estimated-impacts-of-energy-and-climate-change-policies-on-energy-prices-and-bills 
		
	
	The above figures do not account for the direct benefits to energy consumers from these policies and the impact they have in helping to offset costs. For example, the Government’s latest estimate of the total impacts of energy and climate change policies (i.e. not just those levied on energy suppliers) on energy prices and bills(6) finds that in 2013 households are estimated on average to save around 5% (or £65) on their energy bills compared to what they would have paid in the absence of policies. This is because the total monetary savings from policies which help households save energy more than offset the necessary cost of investing in new capacity and efficiency. By 2020 it is estimated that households will save on average 11% (£166) on their energy bills compared to what they would have paid in the absence of policies.

Fracking

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment has been made of the amount of radium that will be released from drill cuttings at each platform used to released gas by hydraulic fracturing.

Michael Fallon: Radium is one of the naturally-occurring products of the radioactive decay of the elements uranium and thorium. These have existed since the earth was formed and are present in all rocks. Virtually all rock types have been measured for their naturally-occurring radioactivity and the results are published widely. UK and world-wide experience suggest that the levels of naturally-occurring radioactivity in drill cuttings would be so low that they would not considered to be radioactive waste and assessment of radium releases would be unnecessary.

Fracking

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent assessment he has made of the safety of fracking and the risk of contamination of groundwater; and if he will make a statement.

Michael Fallon: The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, the right hon. Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Mr Davey), stated in Parliament in December 2012, that he was in principle prepared to consent to new fracking proposals for shale gas, where all other necessary permissions and consents were in place. He made that statement having carefully reviewed the evidence with the aid of independent experts, and with the aid of an authoritative review of the scientific and engineering evidence on shale gas extraction conducted by the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society. Appropriate controls are available to mitigate the risks of undesirable seismic activity. These controls will be required by the Department for all future shale gas wells.
	On 31 July this year, the Environment Agency released its environmental risk assessment of shale gas exploration. This assesses the risk of contamination of groundwater and the measures needed to address that risk. The report found that the residual risk (having mitigated against environmental risks to exploration) is low.
	The Environment Agency has also set out what it expects to see from operators before it will allow any exploration for oil or gas. This can be found in its draft technical guidance for onshore oil and gas exploratory operations, which is out for consultation until 23 October.

Nuclear Power: Japan

Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what his policy is on establishing an international taskforce to deal with the safety of the nuclear plant at Fukushima.

Michael Fallon: The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, the right hon. Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Mr Davey), has no plans to seek the establishment of an international taskforce to deal with the safety of the nuclear plant at Fukushima. Safety at the Fukushima remains the responsibility of the operator of the plant—the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO)—and the Japanese authorities. Work continues through the International Atomic Energy Agency to monitor the ongoing situation and, where necessary, provide co-ordinated international assistance to the Japanese in managing the ongoing recovery of the site.

Nuclear Power: Japan

Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what discussions he has had with his counterpart in Japan on recent reports relating to the nuclear plant at Fukushima.

Michael Fallon: The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, the right hon. Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Mr Davey), has not discussed the recent reports relating to Fukushima with his counterpart in Japan. DECC officials ensure that the Secretary of State is kept informed of developments relating to Fukushima that have the potential to impact on the UK.

Wind Power

Brian Binley: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many employees in the wind turbine industry in the (a) UK and (b) EU have lost their jobs in the last 12 months for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

Michael Fallon: The Department does not hold this information.

Wind Power

Brian Binley: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much subsidy his Department has supplied for each job created in the UK wind turbine industry in the last 12 months for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

Michael Fallon: The Department does not hold these data.
	The Government's policies on renewables generation are driving investment and supporting jobs—between January 2010 and April 2013 more than £29 billion worth of investment has been announced in renewable energy with the potential to support around 30,000 jobs.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Birds

John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what statistics his Department collects on the species for which general licences for killing or taking birds are issued.

Richard Benyon: Users of general licences are not required to submit a report of action taken under these licences so there are no statistics for the number of birds killed each year.

Birds

John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on how many occasions Natural England has issued general licences to kill or take birds for the purposes of preserving public health or public safety in each of the last three years.

Richard Benyon: Natural England publishes the general licence to kill or take wild birds for the purposes of preserving public health or safety (General Licence GL-05) on its website annually on 1 January each year. This has been published for at least the last three years.

Fisheries: Western Sahara

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what proportion of the money paid by the EU for fishing opportunities in the waters off Western Sahara will be paid to Saharawis currently resident in refugee camps.

Richard Benyon: The new fisheries agreement between the European Union and the Kingdom of Morocco has not yet been agreed by the Council and the European Parliament.
	The agreement, as initialled, requires Morocco to report on the geographical distribution of European funds for structural support and infrastructure, and to include the impact on jobs and investment.

Flood Control

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 10 July 2013, Official Report, columns 272-73W, on flood control, what those statistics are in real terms from 2010-11.

Richard Benyon: The statistics from the answer of 10 July 2013, Official Report, columns 272-73W, on flood control, are shown in real terms from 2010-11 in the following tables. Estimates for future years are based on official forecasts of the GDP deflator to 2017-18, and an assumption that price inflation between 2018-19 and 2020-21 remains at the 2017-18 level.
	
		
			 DEFRA funding for flood defences (real terms from 2010-11) 
			 £ million 
			  Revenue including maintenance Capital Total 
			 2010-11 275 371 646 
			 2011-12 251 284 535 
			 2012-13 248 256 504 
			 2013-14 225 277 502 
		
	
	
		
			 Forecast spend (real terms from 2010-11) 
			 £ million 
			  Revenue including maintenance Capital Total 
			 2014-15 209 318 527 
			 2015-16 210 336 546 
		
	
	
		
			 2016-17 — 336 — 
			 2017-18 — 336 — 
			 2018-19 — 337 — 
			 2019-20 — 337 — 
			 2020-21 — 337 —

Flood Control

Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  what formula his Department uses to calculate the Flood and Coastal Risk Management grant in aid for agricultural land;
	(2)  what the current Flood and Coastal Risk Management grant in aid formula is for the protection of agricultural land.

Richard Benyon: The case for maintaining or improving the defences of agricultural land is assessed in a similar way to other assets. DEFRA's policy statement on the appraisal of flood and erosion risk management underlines the need to value agricultural land and the damages that can occur as a result of flooding and erosion. Specific guidance was provided by DEFRA in 2008 based on HM Treasury Green Book appraisal principles. It takes account of the decoupled Single Payment Scheme introduced in the UK from 2005.
	Grant in aid is assessed according to the whole life economic, social and environmental benefits of a scheme. Where these benefits include the protection of agricultural land, grant in aid is calculated on the basis of the economic damages avoided to the agricultural property over the lifetime of the investment, valued in line with HM Treasury guidance. The relevant rate at which these benefits attract grant in aid is 5.56p per £1 of qualifying benefit, i.e. 1/18 of the damages avoided.

Fracking

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment he has made of the effect on (a) the environment, (b) house prices and (c) the quality of life of fracking.

Richard Benyon: The Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering's report “Shale Gas Extraction in the UK: a review of hydraulic fracturing”, published in June 2012, concluded that environmental (and health and safety) risks associated with hydraulic fracturing could be managed effectively in the UK “as long as operational best practices are implemented and enforced through regulation”.
	The Government is currently reviewing the impacts of energy infrastructure, including shale gas extraction, on the environment and the rural economy. This includes effects on air quality, biodiversity, greenhouse gases, health, land use, local environment quality, waste and water. As part of the review, DEFRA has commissioned research comparing the effects which different types of energy infrastructure may have on house prices. It is expected that the results of this analysis will be published later this year.
	The impact on quality of life is considered as part of the local planning process.

Fracking: North Yorkshire

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what representations he has received and what discussions he has had with regard to fracking in North Yorkshire.

Richard Benyon: No specific representations in relation to fracking in North Yorkshire have been received.

National Wildlife Crime Unit

Gordon Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 9 July 2013, Official Report, column 122W, on nature conservation: crime, 
	(1)  what organisations or individuals (a) he and (b) Ministers in his Department have met with since 9 July 2013 in respect of funding for the National Wildlife Crime Unit beyond March 2014;
	(2)  what progress he has made on the funding of the National Wildlife Crime Unit beyond March 2014.

Richard Benyon: We recognise the importance of making decisions on the funding of the National Wildlife Crime Unit beyond March 2014. Discussions are continuing in the normal course of business. The Secretary of State and Ministers have not met specific individuals or organisations since 9 July.

Nature Conservation

Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what considerations he has given to reducing the multiple used to determine the amount of land required for habitat replacement of the economic development in (a) the Humber estuary and (b) other areas.

Richard Benyon: Habitat replacement may be required to mitigate or compensate for the impacts of economic development on biodiversity. Decisions on the amount of habitat replacement are currently taken by the relevant competent authority, on a case-by-case basis, taking account of the impact on biodiversity and the legislation that protects the biodiversity that will be affected.
	The Government will shortly consult on proposals for biodiversity offsetting. Biodiversity offsetting could, in certain circumstances, provide a more consistent methodology for calculating how much replacement habitat should be provided when harm to biodiversity cannot be avoided or mitigated as a result of economic development. As part of the consultation the Government will be interested in views on the multipliers that should be used to establish how much replacement habitat is required.

Tyres: Waste Disposal

Tessa Munt: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will make it his policy to work with other EU member states to remove the green-listed status of waste tyres in order to ensure that their disposal is regulated more responsibly.

Richard Benyon: It is not necessary to remove the green-listed status of tyres to ensure that their disposal is regulated more responsibly. Tyres are not a hazardous waste and the system of control provided in the waste shipments regulation for green-listed waste should be sufficient. These controls require that the waste may only be exported if it is being sent for recovery rather than for disposal, and that the waste will be managed at its destination in an environmentally sound manner.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Betting Shops

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what discussions she has had with the Safe Bet Alliance on safety issues relating to betting shops.

Hugh Robertson: DCMS recently wrote to the Safe Bet Alliance for an update on progress, since their code of safety and security was launched; we are awaiting a formal reply. However, I was pleased to hear of the successes in reducing betting shop robberies in London, since the introduction of this code. I was equally pleased to hear that the code has now been formally endorsed by the Association of Chief Police Officers and I have been informed that members of the Safe Bet Alliance, including representatives from the Police, local authorities, the Community Union, Crimestoppers and betting shop operators, are working on updating and improving this code.

Betting Shops

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport 
	(1)  what steps she plans to take to ensure the safety of staff and customers in betting shops;
	(2)  what recent discussions she has had with the gambling industry on single-staffing in betting shops.

Hugh Robertson: I have met with the gambling industry, including representatives of the betting industry, on a number of occasions to discuss a range of matters. However the Health and Safety Executive are responsible for policy relating to safety in the workplace. Regardless, under the Gambling Act, local authorities have powers to consider whether a betting shop's premises licence is suitable in public protection terms, including for example, whether a particular premises has an association with crime or disorder. If there is evidence of crime associated with a betting shop, the licensing authority can review the licence and, potentially, consider a number of sanctions, such as restricting opening times, requiring security measures, such as the installation of CCTV or the recruitment of security staff, or even suspending the licence.

Betting Shops

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on the clustering of betting shops.

Hugh Robertson: I have regular discussions with ministerial colleagues at the Department for Communities and Local Government, on a range of issues.

Billing

Nick de Bois: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many creditors to her Department owed more than £10,000 remained unpaid for more than (a) 30 days, (b) 45 days, (c) 60 days, (d) 75 days and (e) more than 90 days in each of the last three years.

Hugh Robertson: The number of invoices, over the value of £10,000, that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport paid more than 30 days after invoice date, in each of the last three years, is shown in the following table. These numbers exclude payments made on behalf of the Government Equalities Office, through Home Office systems.
	
		
			  31-45 days 46-60 days 61-75 days 76-90 days Over 90 days Total: all payments taking over 30 days 
			 2012-13 2 1 0 0 0 3 
			 2011-12 4 1 0 0 0 5 
			 2010-11 4 1 0 0 0 5

Broadcasting

Peter Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport 
	(1)  what steps she is taking to support the programme making and special events industry; and if she will make a statement;
	(2)  what steps she is taking to ensure that the programme making and special events sector has access to an adequate quantity of spectrum in the future; and if she will make a statement.

Edward Vaizey: Ofcom, as the independent regulator with a duty to ensure optimal use of spectrum, regularly assesses the use of and needs for spectrum. Ofcom is currently undertaking a strategic review into the PMSE sector's current and future spectrum needs. Government is alive to the issue of continued access to suitable spectrum and ensured that funding was made available for the transition of wireless microphones from Channel 69 to Channel 38 necessary to clear that channel for the recent 4G auction.

Broadcasting

Peter Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment her Department has made of the role that the programme making and special events sector plays in supporting the creative industries in the UK; and if she will make a statement.

Edward Vaizey: The creative industries are a great success story for the UK, worth more than £36 billion a year. We are working hard with colleagues across Government and the sector to ensure this remains the case, identifying barriers to growth for businesses in the sector, and working to overcome these, in priority areas such as accessing finance, ensuring people in the industry have the right skills to compete successfully, and helping businesses in the sector make the most of export opportunities and encouraging overseas firms to invest in the UK. It is recognised by Government that PMSE services play an increasingly important role across a number of creative industries including television and radio production, theatre and other live events. It is, therefore, important that the spectrum strategy recently announced in our “Connectivity, Content and Consumers” paper takes proper account the needs of PMSE users.

Conditions of Employment

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many staff (a) directly employed and (b) indirectly employed through other companies by her Department were employed on zero-hours contracts in each of the last 10 years.

Hugh Robertson: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport does not retain any staff on a zero hours contract, nor has it in each of the last 10 years.

Cultural Heritage

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make an assessment of the contribution of heritage sites in (a) the south-west, (b) east midlands and (c) Yorkshire to the national economy; and what arrangements her Department has in place to monitor the performance of the tourist economy in those areas.

Edward Vaizey: DCMS does not make an assessment of the contribution of heritage sites by region. However, the recent report by Oxford Economics for the Heritage Lottery Fund highlights that the UK’s built and natural heritage-based tourism contributes £9.59 billion GDP directly to the national economy, including indirect and induced effects, that rises to £26.37 GDP.
	http://www.hlf.org.uk/aboutus/howwework/Pages/Economic HeritageTourism2013.aspx
	The performance of the tourist economy at the sub-national level is measured through the Great Britain Tourism Survey (GBTS), Day Visitor Survey, Occupancy, Stock Audit, International Passenger Survey, Annual Attractions and a range of other non-statutory surveys commissioned by VisitEngland including the Visitor Satisfaction Survey. This data is measured nationally but the GBTS can be broken down to county level so that for regions it can be aggregated into several counties. This information is updated on the VisitEngland corporate website where each county’s volume and value is recorded.
	http://www.visitengland.org/insight-statistics/

Design

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much her Department has spent on design of (a) logos, (b) buildings, (c) advertising, (d) stationery and (e) campaigns in the last year for which figures are available.

Hugh Robertson: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport incurred no expenditure on the design of logos. It does not collate any of this information centrally and the costs incurred on the other categories of expenditure could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS

Arms Trade: Egypt

Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many of the UK's arms export licences to Egypt have been revoked, suspended or reviewed since 3 July 2013; how many such licences still stand; and if he will provide a list of all military equipment sold to Egypt under a UK arms export licence since 13 February 2011, by (a) type of equipment and (b) the Egyptian body receiving it.

Michael Fallon: The Government has reviewed all extant military rated licences for Egypt, in the light of events in that country, and of the agreement by EU Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) on 21 August 2013 to suspend export licensing to Egypt for equipment which might be used for internal repression and to reassess export licences for equipment covered by Common Position 2008/944/CFSP. The focus of these reviews has been on licences for the Egyptian Army, Air Force and Internal Security Forces or Ministry of the Interior.
	Five standard individual export licences have been revoked and following the decision of the EU FAC a further 48 licences have been suspended until further notice. Suspended licences are being reviewed for possible revocation.
	179 military rated licences remain extant:
	31 standard individual export licences (SIELs) where Egypt is an immediate end user;
	110 further SIELs where Egypt is listed as a 3rd party, either as a potential or ultimate end user after the goods have been incorporated into a larger item and sent to Egypt;
	two standard individual trade control licences (SITCL);
	21 open individual export control licences (OIELs); and
	15 open individual trade control licences (OITCLs).
	In addition four open general export licences (OGELs) have been republished with the exclusion of Egypt and they are as follows:
	open general export licence (export after repair/replacement under warranty: military goods);
	open general export licence (export for repair/replacement under warranty: military goods);
	open general export licence (export after repair/replacement under warranty: dual-use items); and
	open general export licence (export for repair/replacement under warranty: dual-use items).
	We moved quickly to remove Egypt as an allowable destination from those OGELS which were considered to be of concern following the decision of the EU FAC. HM Revenue and Customs were advised of the entities to watch for all exports to entities of concern (Egyptian Army, Air Force and Internal Security Forces or Ministry of the Interior).
	Information on export licences granted and refused for each destination, including a description and the value of the goods licensed for export, has been published since 1997 in the Government's Annual Reports on Strategic Export Controls. Since 2004 this information has also been published in Quarterly Reports. The reports are available online on the Strategic Export Controls: Reports and Statistics website:
	https://www.exportcontroldb.bis.gov.uk/eng/fox/sdb/SDBHOME
	The most recent report covers the period to March 2013. Users can register on the website and create their own bespoke reports for specific countries from 2008 onwards.

Business: Government Assistance

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many officials of his Department are working on the delivery of the Growth Accelerator programme; and at which office are they based.

Michael Fallon: The Growth Accelerator programme is delivered by Grant Thornton. BIS maintains contract management responsibility. Three officials from BIS work part time on this programme.

Business: Government Assistance

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what proportion of firms participating in the GrowthAccelerator scheme were existing clients of (a) lead contractors, (b) coaches and (c) growth managers before signing up to the scheme.

Michael Fallon: The scheme does not ask if firms participating in the scheme were existing clients of the organisation or individual who referred them.

Business: Government Assistance

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many businesses with (a) up to four employees, (b) five to 49 employees and (c) between 50 and 249 employees are participating in the GrowthAccelerator scheme (i) nationally and (ii) in each region.

Michael Fallon: The total number of GrowthAccelerator companies that have signed a contract is 8,243.
	The split by region and size of business is as follows:
	
		
			  Number of full time equivalent (FTE) staff  
			 Region 0-4 5-49 50-249 FTEs not yet recorded Total 
			 East 284 295 27 72 678 
			 East Midlands 235 346 39 30 650 
			 London 501 445 42 301 1,289 
			 North East 126 118 15 62 321 
			 North West 472 510 50 164 1,196 
			 South East 582 488 37 270 1,377 
			 South West 327 378 25 102 832 
			 West Midlands 343 471 39 85 938 
			 Yorkshire and Humber 243 292 38 105 678 
			 Not set 117 109 7 51 284 
			 Grand total 3,230 3,452 319 1,242 8,243 
			 Note: The column that shows businesses where FTEs are not yet recorded and the row that shows businesses where their region is “not set” is a consequence of the time lag between the company signing onto the programme and the system that holds their details being updated.

Business: Government Assistance

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many businesses with (a) up to four employees, (b) five to 49 employees and (c) between 50 and 249 employees (i) were found not to be suitable for the GrowthAccelerator programme and (ii) are currently being assessed (A) nationally and (B) in each region.

Michael Fallon: The total number of businesses found not suitable for GrowthAccelerator is currently 1,158. The split by region is as follows:
	
		
			  Number of full time equivalent staff (FTE)  
			  0-4 5-49 50-249 FTEs not recorded Total 
			 East 44 19 4 43 110 
			 East Midlands 43 10 3 26 82 
			 London 112 30 4 210 356 
			 North East 15 5 1 23 44 
			 North West 24 22 2 59 107 
			 South East 37 15 1 37 90 
		
	
	
		
			 South West 29 16 7 10 62 
			 West Midlands 48 21 3 79 151 
			 Yorkshire and Humber 23 20 3 35 81 
			 Not set(1) 27 11 1 36 75 
			 Total 402 169 29 558 1,158 
		
	
	The total number of businesses being assessed (defined as eligible and in the process) for GrowthAccelerator at 5 September 2013 was 3,888. This figure does not take account of leads awaiting an eligibility check. GrowthAccelerator is constantly refreshing the pipeline of clients. The split by region is as follows:
	
		
			  Number of full time equivalent staff (FTE)  
			  0-4 5-49 50-249 FTEs not recorded Total 
			 East 27 46 13 142 228 
			 East 3 1 1 7 12 
			 East Midlands 36 40 9 143 228 
			 London 96 82 17 532 727 
			 North East 17 10 3 104 134 
			 North West 40 50 4 424 518 
			 South East 67 81 16 575 739 
			 South West 30 27 9 407 473 
			 West Midlands 39 37 5 183 264 
			 Yorkshire and Humber 33 39 8 309 389 
			 Not set(1) 20 21 8 127 176 
			 Total 408 434 93 2,953 3,888 
			 (1 )The row that shows businesses where their region is “not set” is a consequence of the time lag between the company signing onto the programme and the system that holds their details being updated.

Business: Government Assistance

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what evaluation he plans to carry out of the GrowthAccelerator scheme and its delivery; by what date this will be completed; and if he will place a copy in the Library.

Michael Fallon: Work to evaluate the GrowthAccelerator scheme is already underway through the Growth Observatory, established as part of the GrowthAccelerator contract. It is delivering the following evaluation activities over the three years of the contract (2012/13 to 2014/15):
	(1) Client Surveys—Six monthly surveys of clients, three months and nine months after they have signed up, to (i) understand how effective the scheme has been in delivering support and (ii) understand the difference the support has made. After 12 months, clients also provide data on jobs created and additional economic impact (measured as gross value added).
	(2) Stakeholder Survey—An annual survey of key stakeholders, including Local Enterprise Partnerships and Chambers of Commerce, to understand their views of the success and value of GrowthAccelerator.
	(3) Investor Survey—An annual survey of investors to understand their view on the quality of referrals coming from GrowthAccelerator.
	Grant Thornton's first annual report on GrowthAccelerator, published in July 2013 included insights from the scheme's first year. I have placed a copy in the Library.
	The Department expects that the full economic impact of the GrowthAccelerator scheme will only be realised in the longer term (over five years or more). In addition to the work of the Growth Observatory, the Department plans to:
	By March 2014, publish an interim assessment of the scheme using results from the range of surveys and data collected by the Growth Observatory
	In 2016/17, publish a first full economic assessment of the scheme.

Exports: Syria

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills at what level of approval the final decision to grant an export licence of sodium fluoride and potassium fluoride to Syria in January 2012 was made.

Michael Fallon: All export licensing decisions are taken within a framework agreed by Ministers. Applications are assessed against the Consolidated EU and national arms export licensing criteria, taking into account all relevant factors, including the prevailing circumstances in the recipient country, the nature of the goods, the identity of the end-user and the stated end-use. The specific decisions to approve export licences of sodium fluoride and potassium fluoride to Syria were taken on 17 and 18 January 2012 by officials in the export control organisation within BIS, on the basis of advice from other Government Departments.

Exports: Syria

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what volumes of (a) sodium fluoride and (b) potassium fluoride were authorised for export to Syria on 17 and 18 January 2012.

Michael Fallon: The information is as follows.
	(a) 1,000kg; and
	(b) 1,000kg.

Exports: Syria

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what (a) intelligence referred to in the letter to the Prime Minister from the Chair of the Joint Intelligence Committee of 29 August 2013 and (b) other information on the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime his Department was aware of before the issue of export licences to that country for dual use chemicals in 17 and 18 January 2012.

Michael Fallon: We do not comment on intelligence matters. However, the Government's understanding of Syria's chemical weapons aspirations and programmes was reflected in Department's advice and considered as part of our assessment of these export licences.

Foreign Investment in UK

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what the level of foreign inward investment into the UK was in each of the last 30 years.

Michael Fallon: UK Trade & Investment has collected data on foreign direct investment (FDI) projects landing in the United Kingdom since 1984. The following table shows the official record of FDI projects landing in the UK from financial year 1984/85 to 2012/13.
	
		
			  Number of projects Number of new jobs Number of safeguarded jobs Total number of jobs 
			 1984/85 352 27,391 17,581 44,972 
			 1985/86 425 26,686 22,771 49,457 
			 1986/87 359 19,430 13,521 32,951 
			 1987/88 380 33,838 30,222 64,060 
			 1988/89 356 26,862 16,071 42,933 
			 1989/90 379 35,997 41,995 77,992 
			 1990/91 365 23,756 60,900 84,656 
			 1991/92 354 22,423 31,093 53,516 
			 1992/93 332 17,821 43,359 61,180 
			 1993/94 431 29,841 69,645 99,486 
			 1994/95 455 38,351 53,757 92,108 
			 1995/96 497 47,347 51,167 98,514 
			 1996/97 497 46,400 51,939 98,339 
			 1997/98 631 46,562 82,771 129,333 
			 1998/99 670 45,217 75,523 120,740 
			 1999/2000 757 52,783 81,411 134,194 
			 2000/01 869 71,488 52,291 123,779 
			 2001/02 764 34,087 23,801 57,888 
			 2002/03 709 34,396 19,915 54,311 
			 2003/04 811 25,463 33,754 59,217 
			 2004/05 1,066 39,592 35,451 75,043 
			 2005/06 1,220 34,077 55,789 89,866 
			 2006/07 1,431 36,526 41,831 78,357 
			 2007/08 1,573 45,051 58,488 103,539 
			 2008/09 1,744 35,111 43,429 78,540 
			 2009/10 1,619 53,358 40,988 94,346 
			 2010/11 1,434 41,936 52,662 94,598 
			 2011/12 1,406 52,741 59,918 112,659 
			 2012/13 1,559 59,153 110,943 170,096 
			 Total 23,445 1,103,684 1,372,986 2,476,670

Imports: Ethiopia

David Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what information his Department holds on the cash value of different types of goods imported from Ethiopia to the UK.

Michael Fallon: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) does not hold any data on the cash value of different types of commodities imported from Ethiopia to the UK. This data is compiled by the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). The latest data will be placed in the Libraries of the House and is also available from HMRC's Overseas Trade Statistics database:
	https://www.uktradeinfo.com/Statistics/BuildYourOwnTables/Pages/Home.aspx

Minimum Wage: Yorkshire and the Humber

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many people in (a) Barnsley and (b) South Yorkshire who are in full-time work earn below the living wage.

Jo Swinson: There is no universally agreed definition of a living wage. Therefore we cannot make this assessment.

Royal Mail

Ian Murray: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to the answer of 10 July 2013, Official Report, column 342W, on Royal Mail, if he will provide more specific information on the timing of the sale of Royal Mail.

Michael Fallon: On 10 July, the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, the right hon. Member for Twickenham (Vince Cable), announced the Government's intention to float shares on the London Stock Exchange via an Initial Public Officering (IPO) in this financial year.
	The next milestone in taking forward the IPO will be the issuing of an Intention to Float (ITF) announcement in line with normal market practice. No decision has been made on the timing of the ITF.

Students: Loans

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of the potential value to the public purse of raising interest rates on existing student loans.

David Willetts: The Education (Student Loans) (Repayment) Regulations set out the terms and conditions of both pre-2012 and post-2012 income contingent student loans schemes. We have no plans to change how the rates of interest charged on student loans are determined.
	Raising the interest rate for the existing post-2012 student loan scheme might not increase the value of the loan book because it may provide an incentive for students to borrow less and to repay earlier than required. Moreover, charging higher interest rates could mean that the loans become subject to regulation under consumer credit legislation, which would necessitate a wholesale review of how student loans operate.

WOMEN AND EQUALITIES

Mothers: Employment

John Robertson: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities what steps she is taking to make it easier for women to return to work following the birth of a child.

Jo Swinson: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
	Shared parental leave and pay will introduce greater choice and flexibility for parents, allowing working couples to choose how they manage the care of their new baby, during the early months. This will enable mothers to return to work earlier, leaving the baby in the care of their partner if they so choose.
	The UK already has a good record for mothers returning to work following the birth of a child. The Maternity and Paternity rights survey 2009-10 shows that 77% of mothers who had worked before the birth returned to work by the time their child was 12 to 18-months-old.
	84% of mothers who returned to work after their maternity leave, returned to the same job with the same employer.

Mothers: Employment

John Robertson: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities what recent discussions she has had with representatives of managers on the contribution of women returning to the workplace after pregnancy.

Jo Swinson: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
	During the consultation on the administration of shared parental leave I have had a number of discussions with employers, employer groups and unions on the impact of the shared parental leave changes on parents returning to the workplace following leave.
	Many employers recognise the benefits of providing support for returning parents to enable them to retain valuable members of staff in the workplace.

Mothers: Employment

John Robertson: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities what research she has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the comparative ability of (i) women who have given birth to a child and (ii) men to progress in their career.

Jo Swinson: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
	There is a range of data in this area, from both Government and academic sources. The BIS-DWP Maternity and Paternity Rights and Women Returners survey series provides evidence on mothers' post-birth employment outcomes.
	The Department has also consulted widely with employer, family and women's representative groups as part of the consultations on introducing shared parental leave, including on the impact on women's work experiences of pregnancy and maternity leave.
	Data from the two most recent Maternity and Paternity Rights Surveys suggest that:
	the majority of mothers return to work;
	of those who return, the majority return to the same hourly pay range as they had prior to birth;
	About half of mothers who had previously worked full-time returned to full-time work;
	nine out of 10 mothers who had supervisory responsibilities before the birth of their child continued to do so after.
	The survey also provides information on why women do not return to work.
	BIS internal analysis of the Labour Force Survey (LFS) suggests that:
	the difference in employment rates between men and women increases after the birth of a child, and takes some time to recover;
	the average pay gap between men and women rises after the birth of a child and doesn't fully recover.
	The situation for women is improving, however. LFS data show that women's employment rate is rising over time, while ONS' Statistical Bulletin on the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings shows the gender pay gap to be falling.

CABINET OFFICE

Charities: Pay

John Robertson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what advice his Department has given to charities on senior executive salaries.

Nick Hurd: It is primarily for a charity’s trustees to determine the remuneration of senior executives. I welcome the recent announcement by the National Council for Voluntary Organisations and the Charity Commission for England and Wales that they will work together to develop guidance for charity trustees on setting executive remuneration.

Corruption

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office 
	(1)  what the resources of the Anti-Corruption Champion are; and to whom he is accountable;
	(2)  whether the Government has a strategy to tackle corruption in the UK.

Kenneth Clarke: holding answer 18 July 2013
	The role of the Anti-Corruption Champion is to ensure a coherent and joined-up approach to combating international corruption and the role has recently been expanded to include domestic corruption. Officials across a wide range of Departments work on different aspects of the anti-corruption agenda, including in the Cabinet Office, Home Office, the Department for International Development, Her Majesty's Treasury, the Ministry of Justice, the. Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Attorney-General's Office.
	There are a range of co-ordinated initiatives being undertaken across government. For example, the UK is currently lead co-chair of the Open Government Partnership and is in the process of developing in partnership with non-governmental organisations and other Government Departments, what the UK can do collectively to tackle corruption more effectively. We will outline this vision in the Open Government Partnership's final National Action Plan which will be published at the end of October 2013.

Electronic Government

Mark Garnier: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office 
	(1)  what steps the Government has taken to increase public awareness of official Government websites for accessing public services;
	(2)  what discussions he has had with internet search providers on the prioritisation in search results of official Government sites over intermediary websites for accessing public services.

Nick Hurd: The Government is committed to making services 'digital by default', redesigning them so that they are so straightforward and convenient that all those who can use them will choose to do so. The focus has been on providing simpler, clearer, faster information for users, rather than a public awareness campaign for our websites.
	Since the launch of gov.uk it has had 41 million visits per month as opposed to 25 million for Directgov and BusinessLink (comparing July 2012 to July 2013). gov.uk has had 353 million visits since launch in October last year and was recently listed as the 51st most-visited website.
	As part of my Department's transparency programme, details of ministerial meetings with external organisations are published on the Cabinet Office website at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/cabinet-office/series/ministers-transparency-publications

Historic Buildings: Repairs and Maintenance

David Amess: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office 
	(1)  how much his Department has allocated towards the refurbishment of the Mausoleum of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert to date;
	(2)  how much his Department has allocated to the refurbishment of Frogmore House in each of the last 10 years.

Sajid Javid: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Treasury.
	The refurbishment of Frogmore House and the Mausoleum of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert is the responsibility of the Royal Household.
	HM Treasury pays Sovereign Grant to the Royal Household, out of which maintenance costs are met, in line with the Royal Household's priorities. Before the Sovereign Grant was introduced in 2012, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport provided the Royal Household with an annual grant for property maintenance. It was the responsibility of the Royal Household to decide how these funds were allocated.
	Details of the overall spending allocated to maintenance of Royal properties are available in the Royal Finance Reports on the Monarchy website. The most recent Sovereign Grant Report records that £300,000 was spent on the refurbishment of the Mausoleum at Frogmore in 2012-13.

Youth Services

Julie Hilling: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what plans his Department has for youth services.

Nick Hurd: On 3 July 2013 the Cabinet Office assumed responsibility for cross-government youth strategy and policy. Areas transferred from the Department for Education include the statutory duty on local authorities to deliver youth services, Youth Voice and democracy, working with the youth sector, and international youth issues.
	This is an exciting opportunity to build on Cabinet Office's existing work, in particular, encouraging more active citizenship and local social action among young people, and new models of service delivery.
	The Cabinet Office will be developing this agenda over the coming months, together with the youth sector, building on Positive for Youth, the cross-government vision on supporting young people to achieve their potential.